


The Half of It

by TheCamusTheory



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Hunk/Shay, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Klance endgame, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Shifting perspectives, Strangers to Lovers, Tags May Change, The Half of It - Netflix, klance, slight allurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCamusTheory/pseuds/TheCamusTheory
Summary: “McClain.”Blue eyes turn to Keith in surprise.“$50, one letter, nothing more. Those are my terms.”“Holy crow Keith, you’re the best!” Lance raises his hand for a high five, but Keith has already turned to stalk down the hallway, convincing himself this foray into love letter writing with Lance McClain will be no big deal.
Relationships: Adam & Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 113
Kudos: 208





	1. Just Business

**Author's Note:**

> *ahem*
> 
> So...not sure how I got here, but here we are! I've never written fanfic before, or contributed to fan content in any way, though I do consume copious amounts of it (Thank you fan artists and writers, getting us through this pandemic!)
> 
> But I watched The Half of It on Netflix (watch it if you can IT'S SO GOOD and this fic strays from the movie plot a bit to make the relationships work) and quarantine has me with LOTS of time on my hands soooooooooooo
> 
> ta da?
> 
> I've written a few chapters already and I'll post them over the next couple days as I work to finish it up! I have a vague idea of where this is going, should be fine, right?

The ancient Greeks believed that humans once had four arms, four legs, and two faces. We were happy and whole, complete. The gods, fearing that our contentedness would lessen our worship, separated us, damning us to be half of a whole, wandering the earth miserable and in search of what we lost. However, the ancient Greeks didn’t have high school. We can achieve misery on our own. People spend far too much time trying to find someone else to complete them. How many people search in vain for perfect love? And of those who actually find a perfect match, how many are able to keep it? All this suggests that maybe Camus had it right, and life is irrational and meaningless.

Some rather dismal thoughts on love, but an A grade for a high school essay. Or A- if Shiro is in a mood while he’s grading. But it’s an A, or you don’t pay. Keith’s been running this business for 4 years now, and all his classmates know the rules. It helps with bills, keeps Keith and his mom afloat, and if he’s being honest, Keith gets bored in this small town, so writing 6 essays rather than one is a welcome distraction.

As Keith sneaks essays to his fellow students from his seat at the keyboard while the band director drones on about their next concert, his phone vibrates with incoming venmos. Tracking the papers on their route down the aisle, Keith’s eyes can’t help but catch on the bright smile and laughing eyes of Lance McClain. He gestures sporadically, long limbs flinging in every direction as he regales his friends with what Keith’s sure is a riveting tale of the time their football team almost scored a point or maybe of the latest pick up line he’s added to his arsenal. Keith doesn’t spend much time or energy socializing with his peers, but it’s impossible not to know Lance. He’s loud, overly-friendly, and a notorious flirt. Essentially Keith’s polar opposite.

Tearing his eyes away, Keith gathers his things and heads to Shiro’s English class, leaving thoughts of Lance McClain behind.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

“Now you won’t find any fire and brimstone in Sartre’s ‘No Exit’. He may have been the world’s most famous introvert with his belief that Hell is other people.” Shiro’s attempt at humor is met with blank stares and Keith almost feels sorry for the guy. Young, smart, fit, and stuck teaching zombie-eyed teenagers philosophy.

The bell sounds and everyone snaps into motion, shuffling out the room as Shiro assigns a 500 word paper that Keith will surely be writing for at least half the class.

“Please stop trying to be funny Shiro, it’s honestly pathetic,” Keith gibes his favorite teacher, “it’s not worth trying to win them over.”

“Six takes on Plato, very impressive Mr. Kogane.”

“Do not call me that, and you know I only wrote one.”

“Right, and I’m straight as an uncooked spaghetti noodle.”

“Won’t Adam be disappointed to hear that.”

Shiro stares expectantly, not dignifying Keith’s mention of the teacher’s fiancé with a response.

“Well why don’t you turn me in then?”

“You kidding me,” Shiro blanches, “and have to read the actual essays they’d turn in instead? No thank you.”

Keith chuckles, preparing to leave when he hears paper scrape across Shiro’s desk. Glancing down he sees a paper-clipped stack with the Garrison logo in the top corner.

“Shiro, we’ve talked about this.” Keith hangs his head, already exhausted with the same old argument that Shiro just won’t let go.

“I know you’d get in Keith, you’re a smart kid, and I really think you’d flourish at Garrison University. Best four years of my life.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m a plant. You know I can’t leave my mom like that. I know I can snag a full ride to Arus State. That’s the end of it. Leave it alone.”

“Just take the paperwork and I’ll stop pestering you, promise,” Shiro waves the papers in Keith’s face, making his ‘I believe in you’ expression.

“Fine.” Keith snags the papers and shoves them in his bag, turning on his heel to leave before any other strings are attached.

“Proud of you!” Shiro yells after him. Keith just rolls his eyes in response.

Lost in his thoughts, Keith isn’t people-dodging as well as he usually does (if avoiding people was an Olympic sport, Keith would take gold) and his books and papers are crashing to the ground before he has a chance to dodge the rowdy group stampeding down the hallway.

Cursing under his breath, Keith starts gathering his scattered items, only to see a pair of golden brown hands assisting the cause. Lance McClain straightens the papers he managed to gather, holding them out towards Keith with a lopsided, overly-friendly grin.

“Keith Kogane,” Keith blurts, restarting his stalled hands in gathering the rest of his things.

Lance chuckles, “I know, you’ve played organ for my mom’s services for four years now. You’re her favorite heathen.” 

Lance seems to be expecting a response, but Keith only stares. Lance gently shakes the papers he’s still holding between them, prompting Keith to take them back into his possession.

“I’m Lance McClain?” 

“I know who you are.”

“Oh…kay. Well,” Lance turns and heads down the hall, presumably to whatever class they’re both late for by now, “see you around Mullet.” He lifts a hand lazily in farewell, not bothering to turn and check if Keith is still watching. He is.

“Mullet?” Keith mouths the word to himself, reaching a hand to tug the ends of his inky black hair. He may have let it grow a bit long, but seeing as he was the one who cut his hair, he could say with absolute authority and certainty that it was not, in fact, a mullet.

Keith jolts as the late bell rings, breaking him from his daze and sending him scrambling to get to his next class.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

Red rumbles beneath Keith as he huffs his way up the mountain road. The bike’s a bit worse for wear, but it’s Keith’s only option for transportation so he prays for it to keep it together, promising to oil the chains when he gets home if it just doesn’t breakdown on him again.

As usual, Keith tunes out his surroundings, focused solely on continuing the endless crawl up the road home from school, so he doesn’t realize someone’s trying to get his attention until he’s physically yanked from behind and toppling to the ground as his bike falls.

“What the fuck?!” Keith looks to see what jackass just dumped him across the shoulder.

“Oh, dude, I am so sorry,” Lance McClain stands over him, offering a hand and a regretful look, “I yelled for like 5 minutes but you just kept on trucking.”

“It’s not a mullet,” Keith states from the ground, ignoring the hand held to assist him.

“What?” Confusion colors Lance’s features, reminding Keith of a puppy unsure why a stick has been thrown across the yard.

“My hair, you called it a mullet earlier. It’s not.” Keith pulls himself up and rights his bike, brushing the dust from his clothes.

“Uh, longer in the back, shorter in the front? That’s a mullet by definition.”

“It just grows like that. Plus I have to cut it shorter in the front so I can see.”

“You cut your own hair? Wait a minute, I’m so off topic, I didn’t knock you off your bike to talk about your outdated haircut.”

“Yeah why did you knock me off my bike, asshole?”

“Dude I’m sorry, I just—you help people with writing, right?”

“$20 for 500 words, $30 for up to a thousand, I don’t do more than that.”

“No, I don’t wanna cheat, I’m trying to write a letter,” Lance holds out a folded paper as evidence.

“Who writes letters?” Keith asks, grabbing the paper from him.

“I thought it’d be romantic,” Lance says as Keith unfolds the top section of the paper.

_Dear Allura,_

“No.”

Keith shoves the paper back to Lance, swinging his leg over his bike to continue his journey home.

“I’ll pay you!”

“I’m not writing a letter to a gi—to Allura. Anyway I can’t write your letter, letter writing is supposed to be personal and authentic. Part of that ‘it’s the thought that counts’ bullshit.”

“Please man just look it over for me! It has to be perfect!”

Keith pedals away, knowing he’d be no help in this matter. “Get a thesaurus, use spell check. Good luck Romeo,” Keith lobs the comment over his shoulder with as much sarcasm as he can muster, and leaves that problem behind him.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

Keith storms through the school halls, cellphone pressed to his ear as the hold music he’s sure he’ll be hearing in his sleep for the next week continues to play. Sartre may have believed that Hell was other people, but Sartre was never on hold trying to get through to his electric company about a bill. Keith’s frustration from dealing with automated phone systems half the morning trumps his usual priority for avoiding attention as he stomps his way to Shiro’s classroom where he knows he can hide through the lunch period while he waits to be connected with an actual human being. Still, he has to make sure he and his mom will have electricity for the month and his mom’s English isn’t the best, so he keeps the phone to his ear and considers harmonizing with the hold music just to occupy the time.

Finally, the hold music breaks and a human voice tells him the account number he provided is three months late on bills and electricity will be turned off tomorrow unless he makes a $50 payment by end of day.

The line dies, and Keith looks up to see Lance McClain standing at his locker.

“McClain.”

Blue eyes turn to Keith in surprise.

“$50, one letter, nothing more. Those are my terms.”

“Holy crow Keith, you’re the best!” Lance raises his hand for a high five, but Keith has already turned to stalk down the hallway, convincing himself this foray into love letter writing with Lance McClain will be no big deal.


	2. Something to Prove

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's technically tomorrow in my time zone and I'm still awake soooo...
> 
> Short chapter, sorry but it was a good breaking point!
> 
> I'll post the third chapter today as well since I feel bad about how short this one is. Plus the next chapter is my favorite so far :) we're getting into the klance people!

“Ok, what have you got?” Keith looks to Lance expectantly from the pew in his mother’s church, the best place Lance could think of for them to privately meet after school.

Lance passes Keith his letter, a slight grin on his lips.

“Dear Allura,” Keith reads aloud, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven—oh my god you can’t be serious.”

“What? It’s romantic! I’m saying she’s an angel!”

“It’s a pick up line, they’re cheesy at best and creepy at worst. Plus, you’re suggesting she’s a fallen angel…so you’re really saying she’s a devil.”

Lance gasps dramatically, leaning back with a hand pressed to his chest, “How dare you insult the art that is pick up lines?”

“Is the rest of this letter just more pick up lines?”

“No! …Ok maybe a few, but they’re gold!”

Keith looks back to the page, scanning it quickly. He reads in a monotone, “I’ve been dying to ask, are you an alien, cause your body is out of this world.”

Giving Lance a blank, unimpressed stare, Keith waits to see how the boy could possibly justify this one.

Lance stares back like he couldn’t fathom Keith’s underwhelmed response, “It’s flattering!”

“It’s objectifying.”

“But she’s gorgeous and she deserves to be complimented!”

“Well there’s a way to do it that’s less desperate-guy-at-a-bar-hoping-the-girl-is-too-drunk-to-notice-how-lame-he-is.”

“That line isn’t lame or desperate!”

“What are you even trying to say with this letter?”

“That I’m in love with her!” Lance shakes his head slightly like that’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“This isn’t love,” Keith shakes the letter for emphasis, “This is maybe infatuation, how do you even know you’re in love with her, do you ever talk to her?”

“I mean sometimes, but she’s always with the popular crowd, that’s why I need the letter, to make contact!”

“If you’ve never talked to her how can you love her?”

“She’s smart, nice, beautiful, what’s not to love? I think about her all the time, when I’m falling asleep, when I’m doing my skin care routine, when I’m running laps at football practice. That’s what love is, it makes you screwy. I haven’t hit on any other girl for like a month now. Haven’t you ever been screwy?”

“No,” Keith looks over the letter, trying to decide if anything is salvageable, but it looks like a lost cause.

“Oh I get it, you’ve never been in love.”

Keith whips his head up to find Lance looking at him like he just solved the sphinx’s riddle.

“You want a love letter McClain? I’ll write you a love letter.” Keith shoves Lance’s letter in his bag and storms out of the church, itching to prove to the boy which of them doesn’t know shit about love.

********************************************************************************************************************************

Keith stares at the blank page before him, tapping his pen in perfect eighth notes against the paper, his dinner neglected on the side table as his mother watches an old black and white movie from the chair beside his. Despite his big talk, Keith is at a loss for how to write a love letter to someone he is not and never will be in love with. But he needs that $50 and more importantly, he needs to keep that pitying look from ever crossing Lance’s face again. Never been in love. He’s got no idea what love even is, thinking attraction and pick up lines are the makings for romance.

As Keith’s mind wanders, the movie dialogue catches his ear, “Ya know, I used to live like Robinson Crusoe; I mean, shipwrecked among 8 million people. And then one day I saw a footprint in the sand, and there you were.” Keith’s pen stops tapping and he starts writing.

********************************************************************************************************************************

Keith determinedly peddles Red up the mountain road, the experience much improved after the work he did on her chain the other day, when he hears it. Considers ignoring it. The guy’ll give up eventually, right? Who wants to run up a mountain after a guy on a bike?

“Hey, I know you can hear me!”

Never doubt the power of Keith’s selective hearing, McClain.

“Mullet!”

Not gonna work.

“She wrote back!”

Keith doesn’t care, the deal is over, he’s wiped his hands of it.

“Oh ok fine,” Lance huffs between heaving breaths, “I get it. Not man enough to face your own failure, fine, just keep biking!”

Keith grinds to a halt and turns to face him. No one insults his work.

“Failure? That letter was perfect, if she’s not into you that’s not my fault!”

“She said you cheated!”

“I what?”

“You plagiarized, that’s what she said! She said ‘I like The Apartment too, but I wouldn’t plagiarize it.’ Dude, I paid you for authentic, remember? Now she thinks I’m a cheater.”

Keith backtracks to where Lance is bent over still catching his breath and snatches the letter from his hand. Just the one line, followed by her signature.

“No this is good.”

“How is this good?”

“She’s challenging you, it’s like a game. She replied, didn’t she? Obviously she wants to see what you’ll do next.”

“So what do I do?”

“I don’t know, you’re on your own now.”

“Dude, come on, I paid you $50 for an authentic letter only to find you plagiarized, you owe me.” Lance gives Keith a beseeching look, which Keith meets with indifference.

“Unless you’re finally admitting you know nothing about love and therefor are incapable of helping me,” Lance gibes, reaching a hand out to take the letter back from Keith.

“Fine! I’ll help you,” Keith huffs, “but only for the sake of the reputation of my business.”

“Sure, Keith, that’s why,” Lance makes that stupid face Keith hates where his smile lifts a bit on one side, revealing a dimpled cheek, and a knowing twinkle sparks in his eyes. “So what’s the game plan?”

Keith stares down at that one-line challenge, and decides to think of this as just another essay.

“First thing we need to do is some research.”


	3. Super Awesome Spy Mission!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did someone say Lance POV?
> 
> I did, I said it.
> 
> These two really do write themselves when they get going, huh? This was fun :)

Lance prides himself on his easy-going nature. He can get along with anyone, so he knows everyone. Keith Kogane, however, is his own breed. Keeps to himself, does his little essay writing gig, doesn’t associate with any of the high school social circles (Lance would know, since he’s hung with all of them). So Lance never managed to really get to know Keith until he enlisted his services. And Keith’s… well…

“Hey man, could you tone down the third degree? You’re gonna burn a hole through a book with those eyes and blow our cover,” Lance murmurs from his seat across from Keith at the study table they tucked themselves into at the library.

Keith’s eyes meet Lances (are they purple?! Focus, Lance) and his eyebrows pull together in confusion (cute) as he gives Lance an incredulous look. “What are you talking about? I’m just sitting here?”

“You’re glaring like that shelf of books has personally insulted you, your cow, and your whole family.”

“I don’t have a cow?” Keith seriously needs to stop looking so cute when he’s confused or Lance just might make a habit of this (also note to self: make Keith watch Mulan). Keith shakes his head slightly, as if physically dislodging the thought of his nonexistent cow, “And anyway, this is just my face. Plus, you of all people have no right to critique me on keeping a low profile.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” And maaaayyyyybeeee Lance’s voice got a little loud and gestures a little sporadic and just maaayyyyybeee he drew the judgmental eyes of a few library patrons, so maybe, _just maybe_ , Keith is justified in his smug smirk, but above all, Lance 100% does not think that smug is a good look on him. Definitely not.

“Ok fine, you’re in charge,” Lance acquiesces, prepared to focus back on the task at hand: reconnaissance.

Lance glances back toward the stacks where Allura has been perusing books for the past few minutes, thankfully too absorbed to have noticed Lance’s slight outburst.

“But don’t you think we’d get more information if we could, ya know, see what she’s doing?”

“Lance. Who’s in charge?” Keith asks, not breaking his gaze from the little they can see of their target through the bookshelves.

Lance slumps down in his seat, crossing his arms and adopting his best pouting face before mumbling, “You are.”

“Just trust me.”

They sit there a few more minutes, Lance tapping his fingers and jiggling his leg to keep from blurting out every thought that crosses his mind, knowing his input won’t presently be appreciated, until Allura heads towards the main desk with a stack of books in her arms.

“Yes!” Lance jumps up, ready to follow, already planning which shelves he’ll duck behind if she glances his way. Imagining how cool he’ll look somersaulting across the floor like a spy movie, when he’s suddenly tugged in the opposite direction by his sleeve.

“Hey, what the cheese!”

“Shh! Do you have any concept of stealth?” Keith whisper-yells as he steers Lance over to the shelves Allura just abandoned.

“Stealth’s my middle name Kogane! I invented stealth!” This dude has no idea how awesome the scene that was just playing in Lance’s head was, he is stealth!

Keith releases Lance’s arm and scans the shelves.

“What are you doing?”

“Reconnaissance, remember?”

“Oh yeah, what do you think the books are gonna tell you about Allura?”

“What genres and authors she’s into. She spent like 10 minutes in the romance section, from the way the books are leaning, I’d guess she grabbed a Nicholas Sparks, a Jane Austen, and maybe a Nora Roberts. We can work with that. Let’s go.”

“Hold up Kogane,” now it’s Lance’s turn to grab Keith’s arm, yanking him back, “are you suggesting ‘we can work with that’ because you’ve read them?”

“There a problem with that, McClain?” Keith’s eyes (and yes, they’re definitely purple, how?!) bore into Lance’s, daring him to comment.

“No, no problem at all!” Lance holds his hands up in surrender, never having seen a fire from quiet Keith Kogane like the one raging in him now. “Who has a problem? There’s no problem! Just call me Lance-No-Problem-McClain.” Lance smiles to show just how not a problem it is.

Keith stares a few more seconds before turning and storming out of the library, leaving Lance scrambling to keep up.

Like Lance said, he gets on with anyone and knows everyone, so he’s pretty sure he’s seen it all, but Keith… Keith is surprising.

**********************************************************************************************************************************

“Oh man, this place has THE BEST milkshakes, have you had them?” Lance bounces in his seat as Keith scans the menu, thrilled that their tailing of Allura lead them to his favorite diner, a sure sign that they are meant to be together!

“I’m lactose intolerant.”

Lance gasps. The look he gives Keith would suggest Keith had just admitted he eats babies for breakfast. “Keith, my buddy, my man, the only person brave enough to have a mullet in the 21st century, how do you _live_?!”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“No no, this will not stand! Somethings are worth the tummy ache Keith! We are not leaving this fine establishment until you have experienced the absolute bliss that is their Triple Chocolate Surprise milkshake. With fries.”

“Why with fries?”

“Dipping the fries is the best part!”

“That sounds disgusting.” Keith turns back to his menu, foolishly thinking that this conversation is over.

“You HAVE to try it man, I won’t take no for an answer. I have five siblings dude, don’t think you can out stubborn me!”

“Why do you even care? The only reason we’re here is to collect information on Allura because you’re supposedly in love with her.”

“I AM in love with her Mullet, but I also happen to have a heart of gold and we’re here anyway so we may as well pop your milkshake cherry!”

“Please never say that again.”

“Only if you agree to try the milkshake. WITH THE FRIES!”

“Oh my gosh fine, just order it already!” Keith drops his menu in defeat, slumping into his seat with what looks an awful lot like a pout on his face to Lance (and as the baby of his family, Lance is the king of pouts).

Lance waves down a waitress and orders before Keith can change his mind. As they wait for their food, Lance looks across the diner at Allura, chatting with the other populars. This is a busy time for the diner, so the distance between them combined with the general din of conversation has been enough cover for Lance and Keith to avoid detection. Honestly, Lance tried to sell Keith on awesome disguises (fake mustache, sunglasses, big floppy hat) but Keith didn’t got for it for some reason. 

Allura looks radiant in the florescent diner lighting, her white hair cascading down her back in a braid, contrasting her dark skin and emphasizing her gorgeous smile. Lance honestly needs to ask her about her skin care routine because she is glowing. Maybe he’ll convince Keith to add it in the next letter. She chats animatedly with Lotor and Romelle. Romelle has always been friendly with Lance, he thinks they’d get on great if they really got to know each other. And Lotor…well, Lance may be able to get on with anyone but that doesn’t mean he likes everyone. He gets that Lotor is Allura’s friend but the guy’s always seemed a bit high-and-mighty to Lance, just because his father owns half their small town. Allura never acts like she’s better than anyone. It’s one of the things Lance loves about her.

Lance tears his eyes from Allura as the milkshake and fries arrive at their table. Keith gives it a skeptical look, like he’s considering how he can back out of this deal. Not gonna happen.

Lance grabs his straw and rips off one end of the paper sleeve. Quick as a flash, he blows through the uncovered end of the straw….and accidentally nails the older gentleman sitting to Keith’s left.

“I am so sorry sir, I was trying to hit Keith—Ah!” A paper tube connects right under Lance’s eye (but of course he’ll pretend it blinded him and milk it for all it’s worth).

“Heh, like that?” Keith smirks at Lance and he has absolutely no business sounding that confident and proud of himself. Lance needs to take this boy down a few notches.

“Oh, it’s on Kogane!” Lance grabs a fry, flinging it toward Keith's face.

Without even flinching, Keith opens his mouth and snatches the fry from the air.

“Wha- You ju- HOW!” Lance McClain is rarely at a loss for words, but when Keith Kogane starts to fucking _giggle_ , with his face scrunched up and his hand covering his mouth, all Lance can do is stare with his jaw hanging on the floor.

Keith collects himself before Lance, and reaches to grab a fry himself, dipping it in the milkshake and popping it into his mouth. He chews for a bit, contemplating as Lance waits on bated breath.

“Weird.”

“Oh come on, you love it.” Lance loads up a fry of his own, not about to miss out on what he knows is a top tier experience.

“It’s fine, I guess.” Keith aims for nonchalance, but doesn’t hold back from grabbing another fry and scooping it into the milkshake.

“Ya know it wouldn’t kill you to just admit that I’m right.”

“It might, we don’t know. Guess we’ll have to wait til you’re right to find out.”

“Ouch, Kogane, you wound me. By the way I’m pretty sure I’m half blind from that straw shot you beamed at my eye, so thanks for that.”

“Good thing your favorite milkshake’s here to make it all better.”

“Damn right it’s a good thing.” 

As they banter back and forth between mouthfuls of fries and milkshake, Lance almost forgets the reason he’s even spending time with ‘lone wolf’ Kogane in the first place.


	4. Acquaintances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Keith POV
> 
> So this first scene. A plot point in the movie is the main character and her dad speak Chinese, in this fic Keith and his mom are Korean, do I know Korean? No. Do I know anyone who know's Korean? No. Do I trust Google Translate? No.  
> Therefor, we're taking the cowards way out and putting the non-english text in italics and just saying they are speaking Korean. I tried to make it clear in the writing but just wanted to address that here as well.
> 
> also: *****IMPORTANT******  
> This chapter contains brief homophobic bullying, so if you want to skip that, it's in the last scene that starts with "Keith, hey!" You can safely read til Keith asks "We're friends?" then skip down to where Keith says "Did you need something or..?"  
> It's pretty mild but also very short and easy to skip. Just know that unimportant side characters were jerks towards Keith and Lance called them out and sent them running.
> 
> Safe reading, take care of yourselves, hope you enjoy the chapter!

“ _So_ ,” Keith’s mother spoke in their native Korean, trying for nonchalance as only the mother of a teenager can, “ _where were you all day?_ ”

“ _Out with…an acquaintance_.” Keith shovels more food in his mouth, hoping it will end this conversation.

“ _Acquaintance?_ ” No such luck. “ _You spent the entire day out with an acquaintance?_ ”

“ _Yes Mom, is that so hard to believe?_ ”

“ _Considering we’ve lived here seven years and you’ve never once gone out for a day or had an ‘acquaintance’…_ ” Her suggestive silence says enough.

“ _It was a one-time thing, it’s not gonna happen again._ ”

“ _Do I even get to know who this mysterious one-time acquaintance is?_ ”

“ _Nope._ ” Keith stands and takes his plate to the sink, rinsing it and putting it in the dishwasher like a good son before stomping off to his bedroom to finally end this conversation.

Still, his mother yells after him, “ _Well if it does happen again, I want to meet him!_ ”

“Mom!”

*******************************************************************************************************************

“Lance?” Keith’s voice echoes through the empty church, the pews offering no reply. Though the note in his locker hadn’t been signed, there was no questioning who wanted Keith to meet him in the church after school.

Keith glances around, prepared to call it a lost cause and leave, when suddenly a “pssst” cuts through the air.

Keith turns, trying to locate the sound.

“Over here!” an aggressive whisper comes from the back of the church. It’s then that Keith notices the confessional, and how one side is closed while the other door hangs open.

Sighing, Keith wanders to the open side of the confessional and takes his seat, closing the door as he settles in.

“Lance. What are we doing?”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Your mom’s church, no one else talks to me, you’re the only person I can think of who would actually write out emojis on paper, need I go on?”

“Sheesh Keith, you’re no fun.” Keith hates that he can tell Lance is pouting without even seeing him.

“Why are we here? Isn’t this sacrilegious?”

“She wrote back.” Keith hears a fluttering sound from just outside his door. He cracks it open and reaches out to grab the paper covered in looping handwriting.

“Congratulations,” Keith replies with as little enthusiasm as possible, “but why am I here?”

“Don’t you wanna know how it went? Aren’t you even a little bit invested in your love letter prowess Kogane?”

“Not really, I’m not the one trying to date her.” Still, Keith glances over the letter, since he’s already here. Keith can’t help but read it in Allura’s voice, her posh, oddly British accent lilting the words and lending them her easy sophistication that even Keith can appreciate.

_Dear Lance,_

_I can understand the impulse to hide behind the words of another, so I suppose I can forgive you. Can I be honest with you? At times I feel so much like a collage of other people’s desires that I hardly know who I am anymore. When you’re a pretty girl (and I know i sound conceited, but that’s why you’re writing, right?) people want to give you things. What they really want, is to make you like them. Not ‘like them’ as in ‘I like you’ but ‘like them’ as in ‘I am like you.’ So I am like a lot of people. There are few pieces of myself that are authentically me, rather than borne from the expectation of me. One authentic piece is my love of romance novels, though I trust you to keep my secret. I appreciate your Jane Austen quote (and your proper use of citation this time). It reminded me to be mindful of what is for me, and what is for others, and to perhaps reconsider the balance I currently hold between the two. As for my skin care routine, I couldn’t possibly write it out for you in this letter, but maybe we can swap tips sometime._

_Sincerely,  
Allura_

Keith holds the letter toward the other door, shaking it so Lance will take it back.

“This is good, right?” Lance asks as he retrieves his letter, “I mean she kinda seems to think I’m only into her for her looks, which is totally not true, but other than that this is great! She wants to talk to me about skin care!”

“Amazing, glad you got your money’s worth.”

“You could at least pretend to be excited for me, Keith, or at least proud that your ‘business reputation’ is intact.”

“Why are we still sitting in this thing?” Keith pulls himself out of the confessional as Lance’s door swings open.

“I don’t know, just thought it’d be cool.” Lance smiles up at Keith, still riding the high of Allura’s reply. “I’m gonna ask her to hang out, maybe go to that diner we both like.”

“That’s great Lance, good luck with all that.” Keith turns to leave, with the deal finally complete there’s no reason for him to stick around listening to Lance moon over Allura and their future relationship.

“Hey wait, Keith,” Keith turns to see Lance out of the confessional, earnest expression hitting Keith full force. “Thank you. You didn’t have to help me, and I know I paid you and all but still, it means a lot to me.”

“Sure thing.” For a moment they both just stand there, staring, as the silence stretches between them. “Well,” Keith breaks the silence when it seems like Lance has nothing more to say, “see you around, I guess.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

Keith heads out to his bike to make the ride home, pointedly choosing to ignore the feeling twisting in his gut that does not deserve any of his mental energy. It’s pointless anyway.

*******************************************************************************************************************

Keith is glad to be back to his normal routine now that the whole love letter business with Lance is over. Now he can focus on just avoiding all his peers and taking their money for their essays. He doesn’t have to worry that Lance will try to convince him that pick up lines are anything but cringeworthy, or that he’ll make Keith try any other bizarre (and weirdly delicious, but you didn’t hear that from Keith) food combinations, or make that stupid face he does when he thinks he’s won something. He never did win, by the way, Keith absolutely 100% won every argument and challenge between them, including the race from the diner back to the library where Keith had left his bike even though Lance totally cheated by giving himself a head start. And yes, the side cramp from sprinting right after eating was totally worth it. Anyway, Keith is so happy to not have to deal with any of that anymore. So happy.

“Wha-!” Keith is forcibly tugged from both his thoughts and his path down the hallway when a strong hand pulls him by his backpack through an open classroom door. “What the hell?”

Keith turns to see none other than Shiro standing with his arms crossed and his disappointed dad face on (how does he have all the parent expressions when he doesn’t even have kids? Must come with being a teacher). He holds out one hand, clutching a piece of paper. Keith recognizes his own handwriting.

“Maybe you can explain why I found this on the floor of my classroom the other day. Yours may not be the signature at the bottom, but I recognize your work Keith. What’s this about? Is this why half of my class is failing their essays?”

“It’s over now so don’t worry about it. I’m back to my usual business.”

Keith’s tone must not have been as aloof as he aimed for, because Shiro’s disappointed dad face shifts to concerned dad, an expression Keith’s seen plenty of times from him over the years.

“Anything you want to talk about?”

“Nothing to talk about Shiro, just leave it alone.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing. How did you end up writing a love letter to a girl?”

“Lance offered to pay me, I needed the money. That’s how a business works.”

“I know a defensive Keith when I see one, I think there’s more going on here.”

“Maybe quit the interrogation and I won’t be defensive. There’s nothing going on between me and Lance.”

Silence builds as they have a stare down, Shiro trying to read Keith’s mind and Keith doing his best to close it off.

“Fine,” Shiro ends the staring contest, “I’ll let you go only because I don’t want you to miss your next class. But know that my door is always open if you decide you do want to talk about this.”

“No ‘this’ to talk about Shiro. Goodbye.” Keith hurries out both to reach his next class in time and to avoid breaking under the pressure of all Shiro’s understanding looks. And anyway, there’s _nothing to talk about._

*******************************************************************************************************************

“Keith, hey!”

Is there another Keith at this school? Keith’s pretty sure there isn’t, so he doesn’t know why his name is coming out of Lance’s mouth, or why the boy in question is headed straight for where Keith is switching out books at his locker.

“Lance?” It’s been about a week since the last time they met in the church, and Keith has no clue what Lance could possibly have to talk to him about now. He’s never been one of his regular customers, and the letter writing is over.

“What?” Lance seems offended by Keith’s obvious confusion, “can’t a guy say hey to his friend in the school hallway?”

“We’re friends?” Keith finishes switching his books and closes his locker, turning to notice Lance has leaned an arm against the locker next to his and is kind of very unnecessarily close.

“Of course—”

“Woah man,” Lance is cut off by a loud voice from across the hall, a crowd of bodies Keith hasn’t bothered knowing staring at them, “you two look awfully cozy. Maybe we should call him KoGAYne from now on.”

Keith hasn’t magically gained the ability to hear spelling, considering what generic boy #1 just said was essentially just Keith’s last name, but the prolonged A and the snickers from his cohort are enough to suggest what he’s going for. Keith builds up his stoniest expression, ready to storm away from these assholes and Lance’s confusing closeness when Lance steps toward them.

“Hey jerkwad, homophobia isn’t funny, it just makes you look stupid.” Lance may be lanky, but he’s still on the football team (a terrible team that never scores, but still) and he has lean muscle that isn’t apparent at first. So when he takes another menacing step toward the group, it’s enough to have them scattering.

Keith just stares as Lance mutters something under his breath and turns back to meet his eyes.

“What?” Despite the aggressive vibes that had just been coming off him in waves, Lance now looks more like the confused puppy Keith remembers from the time he knocked Keith off his bike.

Keith takes a deep breath, trying to release some of the tension he’d built up in his shoulders.

“Did you need something or..?”

“Oh, um…yeah actually.” Lance rubs the back of his neck. Shy Lance is not a look Keith’s seen before…he’s not sure how he feels about it. “I kinda need your help again…with Allura…I’ll pay you, I have savings.”

“Lance, I don’t know that I’m really the guy to help you with this. Why don’t you ask your friends for help, don’t you have lots of those?” Keith feels bad, but he knows he isn’t the most qualified person to help Lance in this situation.

“Hunk and Pidge are great, the best best friends a guy could ask for, and I love them to death but… I just can’t talk to them about this. Not yet.”

“Why not?” Keith might not have a lot of experience with ‘friends’, but he’s pretty sure romantic troubles are exactly the kind of thing they are meant to help with.

“Look, I don’t know if you know this, but I may have a bit of a reputation as a flirt—”

“I know.”

“SO ANYWAY,” Lance glares at Keith, not appreciating his interruption, “whenever I want to talk to them about someone I really like, they don’t take it seriously. But it’s different with Allura, flirting is fun and all, and I pride myself on my ability to charm the ladies, but Allura makes me want more than that. Something real. And Pidge and Hunk just can’t see that. So you’re the only one who can help me Keith, please.”

“Weren’t you going to ask her to hang out?”

“We did actually. That’s why I’m here, I was a total disaster! I got so nervous I just started rambling, didn’t even let her get a word in. I might have blacked out for part of it actually, I think I used a few pick up lines—”

“Lance, you didn’t, we talked about those!”

“I couldn’t help it, I panicked! You gotta help me figure out how to stay calm and actually talk _with_ her and not just _at_ her! She was really nice about it, I think she’d hang out again if I asked, but it has to go better than the first time.”

Keith thinks for a moment before grabbing a notebook and pen and scribbling out an address.

“Meet me at this address after dinner tonight. And don’t worry about paying me… we’re friends, right?”

Lance takes the paper from Keith, the softest expression Keith has ever witnessed on his face. You’d think Keith had just given him the last drop of water in a desert.

“Yeah. Thanks Keith.”

In Keith’s opinion, they really need to stop ending conversations with this lingering eye contact, but here they are again, staring and silent.

“See you tonight.” Keith heads off before Lance can reply, pulling out his phone to make sure it’s ok to use the address he just gave to Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: When I was a teenager, there was a kid at my school, a grade below me, who for no reason at all, spoke with a vaguely european accent. He was from the midwest USA same as everyone else and no one else in his family spoke like that, and no one ever really questioned it. So Allura having her accent for no real reason at all seems perfectly reasonable to me lol


	5. You can't use bar soap on your face, Keith!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop it's another Lance chapter
> 
> There'll be another chapter in a few minutes (if you're somehow here right as I post this, hi!) because they are both the same night so I want to post them together. Here's hoping I don't fall behind with all this double posting I'm doing!

When the door Lance just knocked on swings open to reveal his English teacher, he thinks Keith took advantage of Lance’s emotional vulnerability to prank him.

“Oh, Mr. Shirogane! I’m so sorry, I must have gotten the address wrong, I’ll leave you to your evening sir—”

“Lance, come in! Keith’s here already, he mentioned you’d be stopping by to use the ping pong table tonight.” Mr. Shirogane doesn’t give Lance an option, grabbing him around the shoulders like they’re old war buddies and practically lifting him into the house. Holy crow, Lance had noticed that his teacher was built, but being wrapped up in those biceps is a whole different experience.

“Ping pong?” Lance glances around the place, it’s homey, but organized. A far cry from the lived-in chaos that is the McClain household.

“Lance, let me introduce you to my fiancé, Adam,” Mr. Shirogane catches Lance’s wandering attention and gestures to a man standing in the doorway of what appears to be the kitchen.

“Nice to meet you Adam, I didn’t know Mr. Shirogane was lucky enough to be engaged.” Lance shakes Adam’s hand like the polite boy his mama raised him to be.

“Please Lance,” Mr. Shirogane cuts in, “I’m not Mr. Shirogane in my own home, you can call me Shiro.”

“Nice to meet you too, Lance,” Adam says, “I hear you’re going to subject yourself to one of Shiro’s conversation ping pong lessons. We haven’t had one of those since Keith was an adorable angsty pre-teen.”

“Adam,” Keith’s voice emerges from somewhere in the kitchen, “I swear if you keep talking I’ll never taste-test one of your new recipes for Shiro ever again.”

Adam ignores the threat, turning instead to his fiancé, “Shiro, don’t you remember how Keith used to wear those fingerless fake leather gloves all the time? Ah, good memories.”

“Oh, he still does sometimes!” Lance pipes up, “He wears them when he rides his bike up the mountain! I should know, I’ve chased him up it enough times.” Lance wonders if he’s said something wrong, because Shiro and Adam seem to be having a mental conversation through bizarre facial expressions and Keith is still hiding in the kitchen. “I mean, it’s kind of hard not to notice, and they go so well with his haircut—”

“Lance and I will be downstairs.” Keith rushes out of the kitchen (finally) and yanks Lance by his arm toward the stairs.

“Have fun, you two,” Shiro calls after them.

“We’ll bring you some refreshments in a bit!” Adam adds.

“Please don’t,” Keith yells over his shoulder.

When Keith stops tugging him along, Lance finds himself in a low-ceiling finished basement, and there is, in fact, a ping pong table in the center, and some seating off to the side for spectators.

“Sorry about them…” Keith heads to a wall where some ping pong paddles and balls are mounted, grabbing what they’ll need for…whatever they’re doing.

“They seem nice, I’ve never seen Mr. Shirogane so chill.” Lance leans against one end of the table, wondering how Keith ended up so close with their teacher and his fiancé.

“They can be nice when they aren’t driving me insane. I wouldn’t have had you come here except my mom and I don’t really have the space, or a ping pong table, so.”

“Yeah, what are we doing? Adam said something about ‘conversation ping pong’?”

“It’s just an idea, we don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” Keith fiddles with one of the paddles, twirling it on its head and avoiding eye contact. “It’s just this dumb exercise Shiro made me do when I was younger and really closed off, to help me get more comfortable talking to people. I figured we could use the same technique to help you slow down. It’s probably stupid, Shiro just made it up to get me to talk, we don’t have to—”

“Hey, no, I think it sounds great.” Lance cuts Keith off because he knows a nervous ramble when he hears one, and he wants to try this idea since Keith was kind enough to help him. “How does it work?”

Keith looks relieved that Lance is cool with the idea, and hands him the other paddle. “All you have to do is hit the ping pong ball back and forth while having a conversation. It’s about seeing conversation as a structured back and forth like a volley in ping pong.”

Keith takes the ball and stands across from Lance at the table, gently knocking the ball with his paddle so it bounces to Lance’s side. Lance immediately winds up and whacks the ball with all his strength, beaming it against the wall behind Keith.

“What the hell?” Keith flinched as the ball zoomed past him, and Lance can’t help it, he doubles over laughing.

“Dude, your face!” Lance gets out between breaths, clutching his sides as he replays the scene in his mind.

“That’s exactly what you’re NOT supposed to do, Lance! God, is this what Shiro feels like all the time?” Keith scowls at where Lance is still collecting himself, though it comes off as more of a pout than Lance thinks he means it to. Ok, Lance has to say it. Cute.

“See, that’s what you did to Allura when you hung out,” Keith continues. “No chance of a reply, no chance to return the ball.”

“Ok, ok, I’m ready,” Lance lets out a few more chuckles before putting his game-face on, “for real this time, I promise.”

Keith rolls his eyes but retrieves the ball from where it eventually lost momentum on the floor. He lobs the ball towards Lance again, and this time, Lance gently bounces it back.

“Good, so now that we have the ball moving between us, we talk.” Keith, however, does not follow this instruction up with any conversation starters, just silently knocking the ball back to Lance a few times.

“What do we talk about?”

“I don’t know…Shiro always started whenever we did this. Maybe just ask something you wanna ask Allura?”

“Ok um…What’s your skin care routine?” Lance asks, going with an easy one off the top of his head.

“Why are you so obsessed with skin?”

“There’s nothing wrong with self-care Keith! You can’t tell me you don’t moisturize at _least_ every morning and night.”

“What are you talking about?” Keith lobs the ball back to Lance, keeping up their volley and looking up at Lance with that confused eyebrow pinch he does.

“Come on, Keith, I know you do something to your skin, it’s completely flawless. Skin doesn’t just look like polished ivory on its own.”

“I use… bar soap?”

The ping pong ball bounces past Lance and on to the floor as he gapes in absolute horror at Keith.

“Why’d you let the ball go—”

“KEITH KOGANE!” Lance bounds around the table to Keith, needing a closer look at his skin to figure out how this could be possible.

“What?!” Keith’s eyes widen and he leans back as Lance crowds into his personal space, one hand snatching Keith’s jaw to hold his face still while the other inspects his cheek, just as soft and smooth as it looks.

“How…?” Lance breaths out, mystified that a person could be blessed with such perfect skin, then use _bar soap_ on it, and still have _this_ be the end result.

“Uh…” Keith makes a half-strangled noise from where he’s frozen in Lance’s grasp, and it takes the cheek that Lance is inspecting turning a frightening shade of red for Lance to fully realize what he’s doing.

Belatedly, Lance registers the footsteps that just lumbered down into this very basement, only fully registering another presence when Adam’s voice says, “Good thing we brought drinks, they look thirsty.”

Lance leaps halfway across the room, feeling his own face heat up, at the same time that Keith blurts “bathroom,” before running up the stairs.

Shiro looks like he’s trying not to laugh, while Adam doesn’t even restrain himself, busting a gut and chuckling still as he offers Lance one of the aforementioned drinks.

Lance takes it silently and sits in one of the chairs, trying to process what just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to formally apologize for Adam, I don't know who let him be like that but that just how he be.


	6. The Little Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith POV! Time to check in with how Keith thinks the night is going...

Keith splashes water on his face in the bathroom, trying to rid himself of the feeling of Lance’s hands, of Lance’s breath ghosting across his cheek as he stood with his face literal _inches_ from Keith’s. Close enough that Keith could notice a slight dusting of freckles across his nose, and that there are actually flecks of green and brown in his blue eyes. Close enough that Keith could smell citrus, probably from his shampoo or one of the no doubt countless skin care products he uses.

Keith looks in the mirror, taking in the skin that had Lance so worked up. He didn’t get the big deal. He was crazy pale, and sure, he’d admit he lucked out with skipping the acne phase of puberty. But the way Lance had described it…polished ivory? Like it was a compliment. Like it was something… beautiful. Keith didn’t know how to feel about that. And then the way he’d looked at him…

Keith sighs. He knows he should head back down there before Shiro comes to check on him, he just… needs a minute. Why does he have to give in to Lance so easily? He was supposed to be done with this. One letter, just one letter and somehow, the boy wiggled his way into Keith’s life to the extent that he called them friends? Keith doesn’t have friends. Keith has his mom, and Shiro and Adam as much as they annoy him. He doesn’t need friends. He was fine on his own. Still, if he’s being honest with himself, that week when he and Lance didn’t talk at all was kind of… dull. The truth is, Lance makes Keith feel alive in a way he never has before, brings out sides of him he didn’t even know where there, and it kind of scares him. He doesn’t know what it means, and he isn’t sure he wants to.

Still, Keith promised to help Lance, so he leaves the bathroom and heads back to the basement. As he descends the stairs, he hears the ping pong ball bouncing and conversation flowing.

“Yeah, four biological siblings and a sister-in-law, we’re close so I usually just say I have five siblings,” Lance says, “and yours truly is the baby of the fam.”

“Lance, I know you’re a twin, Rachel is in my class as well,” Shiro replies. He must have stepped in when Keith didn’t return right away.

“Youngest by 3 minutes and 26 seconds, and she’ll never let me forget it.”

“Ah, of course. So do you two have that twin telepathy?”

“No, no,” Lance chuckles, “I think that’s more an identical twin thing, but we do know each other really well, so sometimes it feels like I can read her mind.”

Keith comes the rest of the way down the stairs and grabs a drink from Adam, sinking into the seat beside him. Shiro and Adam sprung for comfy armchairs, they’re nearly impossible to get out of. Adam gives him a look, which he pointedly ignores, watching the volley continue in front of them.

“Keith,” Shiro addresses him while keeping the ping pong ball in play, “want to take over for me? I think I need to get in on those drinks Adam brought down.”

Keith sees this for the poorly disguised excuse to get him interacting with Lance again that it is, but doesn’t fight it. Rising from his seat, he switches with Shiro while the ball’s on Lance’s side.

“Hey,” Lance’s eyes flicker between Keith’s and the ball, like he can’t decide if wants to avoid eye contact or not.

“Hey. You were talking about your siblings?”

“Oh, yeah, Shiro asked me about them. Two older brothers, an older sister, and a twin. One sister-in-law, one niece, one nephew. A whole clan of McClains. What about you?”

“Only child. Just me and my mom at home. And then these two goons who’ve basically adopted me.”

“Keith, I resent that tone,” Adam jokes, “is that any way to speak of your elders?”

“You guys can go back upstairs, you know. You don’t need to babysit us.” Keith needs them to leave before they start sharing embarrassing things about him.

“Come on, Adam,” Shiro helps his fiancé to his feet, “it’s clear we’re not wanted here.”

“Fine, fine, but Keith has to keep trying my recipes, don’t think I forgot about your threat!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, just go already!” Keith is grateful they leave with out more of a fight. He can tell they’re holding back for him, but he’s sure they’ll make up for it when Lance leaves.

“Hey Keith,” Lance draws Keith’s attention back to the volley between them, and the conversation they’re supposed to be having, “do you mind me asking about your dad? You don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to…”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Keith pauses for a minute, deciding what exactly he wants to say about his dad. “He was a fire fighter. He died right before we moved here, trying to save people. He was tall. Smelled like wood shavings all the time because he liked to whittle. Our house used to be littered with little hunks of wood that he’d carved different patterns into, just to keep his hands busy. He had this huge laugh that filled a room. When he wasn’t around to fill the house anymore, my mom just couldn’t stay, so we moved here. I was ten...” Keith trails off. He’s been hitting the ping pong ball on autopilot for the last few minutes, he sort of forgot where he was. He tends to get in his head when he thinks about his dad, trying to recollect what years without him has pushed to the corners of his mind.

“I guess that’s where you get it, huh?” Lance says quietly.

“What?”

“You’re drive to help people, you get it from your dad.”

“I don’t know that I’d say I have a drive to help people.”

“What are you doing right now, Keith? You accompany my mom’s services even though you aren’t religious. And I know you helped rebuild the animal shelter last year after that storm caused damage to the building. And you’ve fixed bikes for the Holts, Pidge is one of my best friends, they told me about it. You put on this hard exterior, but you have a good heart Keith, and I’m sure your dad would be proud of you.”

Lance says all of this so matter-of-fact. Keith had no idea Lance paid that much attention to him, and he isn’t quite sure how to reply. Lance must sense this because after a bit of silence between them he’s back to his usual, energetic self.

“Ok, time for the hard-hitting questions Kogane,” Lance gives Keith a teasing look, “favorite animal?”

Keith is grateful for the shift, and goes along with Lance’s basic question, “Easy, hippos.”

“Hippos?”

“Got a problem with hippos, McClain?”

“I mean they’re fine, sure, but sharks are way cooler.”

“Sharks are stuck in the water. Hippos are just as deadly, but twice as mobile. And they’re adorable. Hippos are the full package.”

“Wow, you’ve really thought about this, haven’t you Keith?”

“All I’m saying is hippos are overlooked, but when you think about it, they’re clearly the superior animal.”

“But sharks have sharp teeth! And a movie franchise! Take that, hippos!”

“Ever heard of Madagascar, Lance?”

“You have got to be kidding me. Madagascar? Sharks have Jaws AND Sharknado! Can’t beat Sharknado. Sharks win.”

As they continue to argue about best favorite animal, Keith thinks back to the look on Lance’s face when Keith told him about his dad, and the way he so confidently stated he’d be proud of Keith. Lance McClain can be…surprising.

***************************************************************************************************************

“What do you like about Allura?”

Keith and Lance are sitting in the chairs, having tired after arguing through all their favorites, including food (garlic knots for Lance, anything that’s not Adam’s cooking for Keith), color (blue for Lance, red for Keith), and pastime (videogames, something they agreed on), and needing a break from the ping pong. Keith sits sideways, watching Lance’s face as he answers.

“Oh gosh, what don’t I like?” Lance gets this dreamy look in his eye as he settles back in his seat. “There’s the obvious, she’s beautiful, but there’s so much more than that. She’s smart, and kind, and she stands up for people, ya know? When the theater program was going to have funding cut last year, she made a whole speech to the school board about how important it is to the students, and she’s never even done a play, she just knew it was something worth defending. I really admire her. Why, you gonna tell me again how I’m not actually in love with her?”

“I mean, I don’t know, it’s just…” Keith doesn’t want to start a fight, but he has to be honest, “it doesn’t seem like you really know her all that well? Like she isn’t a full person to you right now, and how can you love someone you don’t really know?”

“Well if you’re such an expert, what do you think a person should love about someone?”

“I’m not—look, all I’m saying is when you love someone, it’s about the little things. The things other people don’t know because they aren’t close enough to see.” Keith thinks, wanting examples to make sure Lance gets what he’s saying. “Like the way his hair curls at the base of his neck, or how he leaves the last bite for you even if it’s his favorite, or how you can categorize his laughs from genuinely amused to polite, or the ink stains that are always on his fingertips because he plays with his pens without realizing the cap isn’t on.”

“He?”

“Hmm?”

“You were saying ‘he leaves the last bite’ and ‘he plays with his pens’…do you…like guys?” Lance looks at Keith with an expression Keith can’t decipher.

“I guess when you were defending me from homophobia earlier you didn’t think it was actually true.”

“I mean, I don’t like to assume, but it’s totally cool dude. I’m actually bisexual.”

“You are?!” Keith might’ve felt bad for acting shocked after Lance was just so chill about Keith liking guys, but he never for a second considered that Lance could be anything other than straight. “But I thought you were ‘all about the ladies’?”

“Yeah well… it’s just easier to be vocal about that part. But I like to think I can charm the gents just as well as I can the ladies.”

“So not at all?”

“Keith!”

“We’re literally here because you tanked so bad with Allura, you needed conversation lessons.”

“You know what, Kogane, I don’t like what your implying!”

“Not implying, I’m literally saying you are terrible at flirting.”

“Oh that’s it, I challenge you to an actual ping pong game to defend my honor!”

Keith chuckles, “Sure, but you’re gonna lose.”

“Someone’s awfully cocky.”

“It’s not cocky when you’re right.”

“I think you need to put your paddle where your mouth is Keith!”

Shiro and Adam come back down when Lance’s screeches make them think Keith is murdering him, only to find the two boys beaming the ball back and forth through the air without it even hitting the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to think this will be around 10 chapters! I have a basic idea of the scenes I want. Maybe I'll have an epilogue or something... I'll just have to see where these boys drag the story!


	7. Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow we are past the 10k word mark! Who knew we would make it this far? Certainly not me.
> 
> I just wanna say thank you to anyone A) reading this B) leaving kudos/bookmarking/subscribing and C) leaving comments!  
> It's so cool to see life from this side of the screen and I'm so glad I get to share this experience with all of you!
> 
> (btw if you wanna like leave comments saying your favorite parts or something that'd be cool but like only if you want to!)
> 
> (my favorite part hasn't happened yet but I am EXCITED)
> 
> (if the fic doesn't get finished just assume I died of a heart attack while writing said upcoming part)
> 
> (but we have a few chapters still so I'm safe for now don't worry)

When Keith said that he and Lance were friends, he didn’t fully understand the implications of that statement. Apparently, being friends with Lance meant that they had to exchange phone numbers, which meant Keith getting spammed with memes at all hours of the day. And as Keith was learning right this very minute, being friends with Lance also meant no more “sad loner lunches.” 

“I’m not sad, Lance, I’m just eating.” Keith stubbornly remains where he’s seated, ready to prove that he doesn’t have to give in to everything Lance wants. 

Lance retaliates by snatching Keith’s juice box out of his hand and holding it high in the air with his unnaturally long limbs. “Come on Keith, come sit with me, Hunk, and Pidge!”

“You did not just come between me and my juice!” Keith surges up from his seat, prepared to climb this boy if that’s what he must do to get his juice back, when a large presence comes up behind Lance.

“Lance, don’t be mean, if Keith doesn’t want to sit with us he doesn’t have to.” Hunk Garret, a big guy with a big heart. Keith hasn’t interacted with him much, but everyone knows he’s one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Case in point: he snatches Keith’s juice from Lance and hands it back to Keith.

“Thanks,” Keith says, taking the juice and promptly sticking the bendy straw in his mouth as Lance begins to whine.

“But Hunk! We can’t just leave him all by himself in the corner of the cafeteria, it’s too tragic!”

“Are we sitting over here today?” Pidge Holt’s light brown mop top peeks around Hunk, their small stature easily eclipsed by their friend. “Oh, hey Keith.”

“Hey.”

“Pidge! Tell Keith he has to sit with us!” Lance gestures emphatically to where Keith has sat back down and is opening the rest of his lunch, completely ignoring the three of them.

“Ya know, Lance, some people value their alone time.” Even as Pidge says this, they plop down next to Keith, setting their lunch out in front of them.

Keith glances over at the seat that has never not been empty before, now occupied by the small Holt (as opposed to Matt, the big Holt and Pidge’s older brother. The two look like carbon copies excepting their height.) “What are you doing?”

“Eating. I’m hungry.” Pidge digs in to their lunch, offering Keith no further explanation.

The next thing Keith knows, Hunk has taken residence on his other side, opening a delicious smelling lunch that looks like it belongs at the one fancy restaurant in town.

“Oh my gosh, _fine_!” Lance moans, “We’ll sit here. But tomorrow it’s back to our usual table, you too Keith! This table’s all tucked in the corner and the lighting is terrible! This is a one-time thing!”

“No one is making you sit here,” Keith grumbles, unused to sharing his space. His table feels much smaller with three added bodies and lunches.

Lance settles across from Keith and sets out his lunch, done with his dramatics for now in favor of actually eating before the lunch period ends.

“So, Keith,” Hunk says, “you’ve been hanging out with Lance lately?”

“Um, yeah kinda. I’ve been helping him with A-ow!” Keith glares at Lance, who just kicked him under the table, but Lance is looking determinedly down at his sandwich and ever so slightly shaking his head. “Helping him with a school project?” Keith says, confused as to what Lance wants him to say.

“Yeah!” Lance jumps in brightly, “Keith has been helping me with a music project! Just some extra credit thing Coran offered. I figured since Keith plays the organ for my mom every week, he was just the guy to help me out.”

“Wow, that’s really nice of you Keith.” Hunk smiles, and he’s just so genuine that you can’t help but like the guy.

“Thanks.” Keith glances back at Lance, who charges forward with the conversation, avoiding Keith’s gaze.

“Oh my gosh you guys know what we haven’t done in _forever_?! Self-care night!”

“Oh yeah, it has been a while hasn’t it?” Hunk says, “Maybe we should do one soon. I have some new recipes I’ve been wanting to try out!”

“Yes Hunk, please bake for me, you absolute angel of food.” Lance looks like he’s about to swoon at just the thought of the unspecified baking that Hunk might do in the future.

“I have been wanting some extra hands for the robot I’ve been working on.” Pidge adds, adjusting the round glasses that eclipse their small face.

“Keith, you’ll do self-care night with us, right?” Lance asks, bright expression turned full-force at Keith.

“I have no clue what you guys are talking about,” Keith replies noncommittally.

“At a self-care night we all just hang out and do our self-care activity of choice, sometimes joining in on each other’s if we want to,” Hunk explains helpfully. “I like to bake, Pidge works on whatever project they’ve got at the time, Lance does something different every time. Last time it was knitting, one time he did some yoga. Oh hey, remember that time you tried to replicate your mom’s garlic knots recipe and refused to let me help?”

“Hunk, I told you to never speak of that again.”

“If you’re all doing different things, why is it a group activity?” Keith asks.

“Cuz it’s more fun that way!” Lance leans across the table, his serious expression boring into Keith. “You have to experience it at least once, as a part of this friend group!”

“I’m not—”

“Ah, ah, ah, I don’t wanna hear it, mullet. ‘I’m not part of the friend group,’” Lance says in a poor mimic of Keith’s voice, pulling the edges of his mouth down and scrunching his eyebrows in what Keith can only assume is meant to be an imitation of his own face. “You’re friends with me, you’re friends with all of us, no take-backs!”

“I don’t think that’s how friendship works.”

“Well considering you’ve never had friends before, I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it. Pidge, Hunk, back me up here!”

“Keith, you’re more than welcome to join self-care night,” Hunk says.

“I’ll take as many extra hands as I can get, and I know from your bike work that you know your way around a toolbox. I have no objections,” Pidge adds.

“That settles it. Self-care night, tonight, Pidge’s place since all your robot stuff is there!” Lance makes his proclamation with an authoritative whack to the table, and Keith decides not to choose this battle.

“Can’t wait.” Keith finishes his lunch, letting the other three carry the conversation, and wondering what the night will have in store for him.

**********************************************************************************************************************

“ _Hey Mom_ ,” Keith calls out in Korean, wandering into their living room with a bundle in his hands, “ _I’m going to be out tonight with some…friends_.”

“ _Friends? Does this include that mysterious one-time acquaintance you refused to tell me about?_ ” His mother sets aside the book she was reading, giving Keith her full attention.

“ _Yes_ ,” Keith grumbles, hoping his tone is enough for her to pick up that he doesn’t want to talk about it right now, “ _I was wondering…is it ok if I borrow dad’s carving knives? I’m supposed to bring something to do, and I just thought…it might be nice to learn_.”

Keith’s mom stands and comes to him, looking over the bundle of tools he pulled out of storage, a faraway look on her face. She raises her gaze to Keith’s face, and pulls him into a hug. Keith and his mom aren’t usually the touchiest, but Keith understands they both need this and wraps his free arm around his mother.

“ _Of course you can sweetheart. He’d want you to have them. Just be careful, ok?_ ”

“ _Yeah, I will. Love you, Mom_.”

“ _I love you, too_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith uses subject change, it's super effective!
> 
> I definitely sobbed internally the whole time I wrote this last scene between Keith and his mom.
> 
> Who's ready for self-care night? (not me, still gotta write it lol)


	8. Keith’s First Self-Care Night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance POV
> 
> I love this opening scene SO MUCH I hope you do too
> 
> Also, can someone tell me if this is a slow burn or not? I've been trying to decide whether to add that tag but I don't know things

“Keith’s gonna come tonight, right? I mean, he said he would. I haven’t known him very long, but he seems like the type to keep his word. He has so far. So I’m sure he’ll come, right? I mean he didn’t seem the most excited about it, but I know he’ll have fun! If he really didn’t want to come I wouldn’t want to force him. I think sometimes he acts like he doesn’t like things when he really does. Like when Shiro and Adam tease him, he acts all disgruntled but I can tell he appreciates them. And he totally loved that milkshake at the diner, I don’t care what he says. So I think deep down, he really wants to come, at least a little bit. What do you think?”

Bae Bae tilts his white head, his tongue lolling, and ears perked to show Lance he’s listening.

“You’re right, Bae Bae, I’m sure he’s coming too.” He gives the dog a scratch behind the ears for being a good listener. When he got to the Holt residence he decided to stay out on the front stoop a few minutes with Bae Bae before heading in. Just has some things on his mind.

“I know I’ve basically forced him to hang out with me all the other times by paying him, and then guilting him, and then appealing to his good nature… I know he meant for it just to be that one letter, not this whole fiasco it became. I mean it _seems_ like he has fun with me, and I know I’ve had a lot of fun with him. He did _say_ we were friends! I just worry sometimes…or all the time. I know I can be 'a lot', but I think it’s one of my charms, right Bae Bae?” He shoots the dog finger guns and a wink, receiving an enthusiastic bark in reply.

“Thank you, Bae Bae, I think you’re great too.”

“Did I just see finger guns? Why am I even surprised.” Keith calls over to Lance from his bike by the curb, a bulky backpack the only hint of what he might be planning to do tonight. “Finger guns are essentially the physical embodiment of pick up lines. Of course you use them.”

“You’re just jealous. Bae Bae is completely won-over by my suave moves,” Lance tries to act casual, like he hasn’t been stressing over whether Keith would come tonight since lunch and isn’t extremely relieved to see him.

“I’m sure.” Keith walks over, heading straight for Bae Bae. He crouches in front of the dog, grabs his paw, and with a completely serious expression, says, “It’s nice to meet you Bae Bae, thanks for having me at your home. I’m Keith.”

“Keith. What are you doing?”

“Introducing myself, obviously.”

“Bae Bae’s a dog Keith, you don’t have to introduce yourself.”

“Excuse me, some of us have manners.”

“Hey, I was raised by Maria McClain to have impeccable manners! But Bae Bae doesn’t speak English.”

Keith shares a look with Bae Bae, “Was he not literally _just_ talking to you a minute ago?”

“That was different!” Lance gestures emphatically to defend his point, and Keith rises to head to the door.

“Sure it was,” Keith says over his shoulder.

Lance scrambles up to follow him, pushing ahead of him to open the door and enter the house first. “I’m here! And Keith’s here too! Don’t worry, he already introduced himself to Bae Bae.”

“Ooo ok, that’s now a requirement for new guests.” Pidge looks up from the couch where they have a computer on their lap and various metal bits and ends scattered over the rest of the cushions. They’re always a fan of the absurd, Lance should have known they’d be ironically supportive of Keith’s weirdness.

“Pidge! Don’t encourage him! We want him to learn how normal people act!”

“If that’s what we want, he’s with the wrong crowd. Sorry Keith.”

Lance opens his mouth, prepared to be offended, but thinks for a moment, then releases his breath, “Yeah you’re right, I can’t even argue.”

Lance wanders into the kitchen, where Hunk has already set up shop for his recipes. He’s got three large mixing bowls on the counter surrounded by ingredients for something Lance knows will be mouthwatering. Keith is standing off to the side, peeking into the bowl closest to him.

“Yeah, I’ve almost got this one figured out,” Hunk explains as he measures out a spice and adds it to one of the bowls. “I just need to pin down what should be the secret ingredient, and then it’ll be perfect!”

“Hunk, love of my life, apple of my eye, yee to my haw, your favorite taste-tester has arrived!”

“Lance! I’ve got three different batches for you tonight, buddy, I’ll let you know when they’re ready for testing.”

“Sure thing, bud, canNOT wait!” Lance steps over to Keith, grabs him by the shoulders, and pulls him back into the living room.

“What the hell, Lance?”

“Hunk prefers to have the kitchen to himself when he bakes, but he’s too polite to say so. He’ll come out when he has batches ready to taste but for now, we’re gonna chill out here,” Lance explains, taking a seat in a well-loved armchair across from Pidge.

“So, Keith,” Pidge doesn’t look up as they speak, fingers flying across their keyboard without stalling, “what are you going to be doing tonight?”

“Well, I’ve never done it before,” Keith shrugs his backpack off and sets it on the cluttered coffee table, pulling the zipper open, “but I thought I’d try a little wood carving? I have the basic tools and some chunks of wood I found on the way here. Oh…” Keith glances at Pidge with an apologetic look. “I didn’t even think—this is probably gonna make a mess, and I didn’t bring anything to put down like a tarp…I don’t have to do it, I’ll just help someone else—”

“No, don’t worry about that,” Pidge interrupts, “the Holt household is used to mess, with three scientists and a botanist living here. It’s no big deal, we’ll just vacuum it up after.”

“Oh,” Keith breathes a little sigh of relief, “cool, thanks Pidge.”

Lance remembers that Keith had mentioned his dad liked to whittle, he wonders if their conversation the other night has anything to do with Keith’s choice of care activity. Either way, Lance is glad Keith can connect with his dad this way.

Keith sets out his tools and settles onto the floor to Lance’s left, crisscross applesauce style. Then he pulls something off his wrist and reaches his hands into his hair.

“Whaaaaaat are you doing?” Lance asks, aiming for nonchalance and landing somewhere around slightly flustered.

“Tying my hair back so it doesn’t get in my face while I work.” Keith lowers his hands, now sporting a tiny ponytail made up of the longest strands of his hair. His bangs and most of the back still hang loose. It’s stupidly ineffective and definitely should not look that hot.

“Nope, nopity nope nope noooooo, nuh uh, I can’t allow this, come here.” Lance pats the front of his armchair, hoping the heat he feels in his face isn’t visible.

“What.” Keith’s face says he’s already 1000% done with Lance’s bullshit, but that just means less work for Lance to get his way!

“Scooch your booch Kogane, I’m gonna help you actually get your hair out of your face in a way that won’t fall apart in five minutes. Plus, I’ve just now decided my self-care activity tonight is braiding hair and as the only one here with long hair, you’re obligated to help me.”

“You wanna braid my hair?”

“French braid, ever heard of it? I used to do them for my sisters and niece all the time. It’ll work way better than your puny ponytail, trust me.”

Keith sighs in defeat and slides over to sit in the space in front of Lance’s chair between his legs, leaning back so his hair is easily within Lance’s reach. Lance takes a moment to just soak in how adorable his little ponytail truly is before pulling the hair tie free.

“Oh my god…Keith.” Lance pulls his hands back to cover his face. He really just can’t with this boy. “Seriously, are you an alien or something?!”

“If you’re about to use a dumb pick up line on me, I will punch you in the throat.”

“No, I’m serious! First you have perfect skin that you defile with bar soap and now even your raggedy mullet is crazy soft! What are you?!”

“If you don’t want to braid my hair that’s fine by me,” Keith leans forward to move away but Lance quickly grabs his shoulders and pulls him back.

“Noooo I was just surprised, I want to braid your hair! Pidge chopped theirs off last year and my sisters never ask me to do it anymore!” Lance jumps into his usual routine before Keith can protest, digging into the softness of his hair and gently scratching his scalp.

Keith’s shoulders start to tense at the touch. “Um…what.”

Woops. Lance pulls his hands back and he chuckles nervously, “Oh, sorry dude, I guess that could be a bit much for someone who’s not used to it? It’s just part of my usual braiding process but I can skip it if you aren’t comfortable.”

“You should try it if you’re open to it Keith,” Pidge pipes up. “Can confirm that a Lance head massage is one of the best things in this town. Dibs on next by the way. Just because you can’t braid my hair anymore doesn’t mean I have to miss out.”

“Um..” Keith clears his throat. Is it just Lance or does the back of his neck look a little flushed? “It’s fine. You can do it. Wouldn’t want to detract from your self-care activity.” Keith actively releases the tension in his shoulders and leans back against the chair, signaling to Lance that he’s ready this time. 

Lance slowly eases his fingers back into Keith’s hair. It really is stupidly soft, almost silky. Lance rubs into Keith’s scalp, scratching lightly and trying to zone out and just do his usual routine. He hears Keith let out a little sigh, sees more of the tension leave his body as he fully gives over to the relaxation Lance’s fingers coax. Lance can just imagine his eyes fluttering closed, he knows he can put a grown person to sleep with this routine. He decides to take his time, pulling out all the stops to give Keith the full experience. Dude deserves to relax a bit, he’s way too tense all the time. And maybe Lance is enjoying this a bit, too.

After a few minutes, Lance starts pulling Keith’s bangs back off his face to begin braiding. Lance didn’t know it was possible, but Keith somehow has a cute forehead along with everything else. Honestly, what higher power did Lance piss off to deserve this kind of torture? He can just imagine leaning down and placing a kiss on that adorable, perfect forehead.

Lance freezes, blindsided by his own thought. Keith leans his head back to peek up at him, and Lance is still holding his hair back so he can see his whole face unobstructed.

“Something wrong? Why’d you stop?”

“Nothing! Stop looking at me, I can’t braid with your head tilted like that!”

Keith grumbles but returns his head to face forward. Lance takes a deep breath. He isn’t trying to die before his second chance with Allura. Lance mentally corrals all thoughts of Keith’s forehead to the ‘do not think about under any circumstances’ corner of his brain and leaves it at that. Then, he focuses back on Keith’s hair, and starts braiding.

****************************************************************************************************************

The night turns out to be one of Lance’s favorite self-care nights yet. After he finishes braiding Keith’s hair (it looks great, by the way, because Lance is a great braider, not just because Keith is ridiculously good looking no matter what), he moves over to perch on the back of the couch behind Pidge, focusing 100% on giving them an excellent head massage and not at all noticing Keith pulling out one of his chunks of wood and starting to experiment with the different tools he brought or how cute his concentrating face is.  


Later, Hunk brought out three different versions of his cranberry oatmeal cookies for everyone to try and they were FANTASTIC! That boy has been blessed by the culinary gods, and Lance has been blessed to know him. Hunk and Pidge talked computer junk while everyone deliberated which cookie was the best, to help determine Hunk’s secret ingredient. Hunk is the absolute worst of anyone at keeping secrets, but when it comes to special parts of his recipes, the guy’s a steel trap. It frustrates Lance to no end, but he survives because Hunk promises him taste-test privileges. 

After the cookie tasting was sorted, Pidge corralled everyone into their garage/workshop to help with Rover, the bot they’ve been building. Hunk and Keith helped the most, but Lance had the very important job of keeping everyone entertained, which he did with the help of his queens, Shakira and Beyoncé. Everyone really appreciated it, especially Keith, when Lance tried to make him dance to Hips Don’t Lie (“Your hips are telling me they want to dance, Keith!” “They really aren’t, Lance.”) At least he can always count on Hunk to dance with him.

Overall, an excellent night, and Lance for one feels very refreshed and cared for. Lance gets good energy from feeling needed and doing things for others, so he’s actually really grateful that Keith let him braid his hair. He glances over at that braid now, as he and Keith walk together toward their respective homes. Lance was a little surprised when Keith didn’t take his hair out as soon as he put away his wood carving tools, but it’s still there as he walks his bike down the sidewalk.

“Hey Lance, can I ask you something?”

“You just did.”

“That’s literally never funny.”

Lance smiles to himself. Exasperating Keith will never get old. “What’s on your mind Keith?”

Keith pauses for a second. “When are you going to tell them about you and Allura?”

Not a question Lance was expecting. 

“Maybe when there’s a ‘me and Allura’ to actually tell about.” Lance didn’t mean for it to come out with that slight bitterness. He’s just frustrated with himself. If only hanging out with Allura was as easy as hanging out with Keith. With Keith, there’s no pressure. Lance knows if he makes a fool of himself, Keith will just tease him about it, not in a mean way, but with that slightly amused look he tries to hide but Lance sees anyway.

“Hey,” Keith says quietly, drawing Lance out of his thoughts. He looks slightly hesitant, like he’s not sure what to say, “you’ve got nothing to worry about with Allura, Lance. You’re a great guy, and if she’s agreeing to hang out with you, it’s because she likes you. The annoying, stupid, rambling mess version of you.” Lance chuckles. Keith can be so soft, and genuine, and uncertain. All things Lance from a few weeks ago never would have guessed.

“Thanks Keith. You’re a really good friend even if you haven’t had much practice.”

“Yeah well, you make it easy worrying over dumb shit like this.”

“I feel like I should be offended but that almost sounded like a compliment.”

“What? You’re crazy. Maybe you should get your ears checked. Those were obviously insults.”

“Pretend all you want, Kogane, I know you’re secretly a big softie.”

Keith scoffs but doesn’t reply. They walk a few minutes in comfortable silence. Surprisingly, Keith is the one to break it again.

“Hey Lance.”

“Yeah Keith?”

“Thanks….for inviting me and all. It was nice.”

Lance turns his head away from Keith to hide the giant smile taking over his face. Keith’s been looking forward so Lance is hoping he won’t notice.

“You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus Content:  
> Hunk and Pidge when Klance aren't paying attention:
> 
> "Lance is in so deep for Keith."  
> "Oh, definitely."  
> "And he has no fucking clue."  
> "Yeah, Lance is in the trenches of denial for sure."  
> "He's such an idiot."  
> "But he's our idiot."
> 
> Pidge was just collecting blackmail material the whole night.
> 
> BTW I'm taking a one-day break from this to celebrate a birthday so the next update might be a few days!
> 
> Also: I can't tell you how excited i got when I realized that I could make ponytail Keith happen!!!!! I am sooooooo weak for ponytail Keith. And I obviously had to make Lance play with Keith's hair. Authoring fic comes with so much power! Who knew!


	9. Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet
> 
> Feelings are hard
> 
> Hello I'm back, hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Keith pedals Red down streets aimlessly. He and Lance parted ways a while ago, but Keith isn’t ready to go home just yet. He meant it when he told Lance the night was nice, but it was also… overwhelming. Between whatever the heck Lance did to his head, working with his dad’s tools for the first time, and hanging out all four of them in the garage, it was kind of a lot and Keith’s brain is full to bursting. So the quiet of his room or his mom with her well-meaning questions just aren’t what Keith wants right now.

Keith realizes his biking might not have been as aimless as he thought as he begins to recognize the houses, and shortly stops in front of Adam and Shiro’s place. He knows it’s late, but Adam and Shiro have told him on multiple occasions that he should consider their place a second home. He hops off Red and goes to knock on the front door.

Shiro answers, “Keith! Nice to see you, come on in.”

“Hi Shiro. I know it’s late, I just—”

“Don’t even worry about it, do you want anything to drink?”

“Um, water would be nice actually.”

“Sure thing. Have a seat.” Shiro heads to the kitchen while yelling down a hallway, “Adam! Keith’s here!”

“Wow, what’s the occasion?” Adam’s voice precedes him as he enters the living room. “Nice hair! It’s weird to see all of your face at once. What’s up kid?”

Keith reaches a hand up to touch his braid, he’d forgotten it was even there still, then groans and flops face-first onto the sofa.

“Oh my gosh, Shiro, did you hear that?” Adam crosses the room to the couch, lifts Keith’s legs, then sits, settling Keith’s legs back onto his lap. “Sounds like boy trouble to me.”

“I hate you.” Keith says, muffled against the couch cushions.

“Here’s your water Keith.” Shiro sets a glass on the end table by Keith’s head before gesturing to Adam to scoot to the center of the couch, still under Keith, so Shiro can take the spot at Keith’s feet. “You finally ready to talk about the real reason you’re writing love letters for Lance McClain, then having him over for ping pong?”

“Shiro!” Adam whacks his fiancé’s bicep, “You’ve been holding out on me! You never told me about any love letters!”

“It’s Keith’s business to tell us when he’s ready.”

“Well I don’t get why you got to know and I didn’t.”

“Will you guys stop bickering, I’m having a crisis!” Keith knows if he doesn’t interrupt they’ll go on all night, and he does need to go home eventually.

“Sorry,” they chime together. 

Keith finally sits up and takes a sip of his water. “Ok. I’m going to say this once, and then never again, got it?”

Adam and Shiro nod.

“I might…possibly…. _like_ Lance…a bit. But it’s completely pointless because even if he does like guys he’ll never like me and he and Allura are probably gonna start dating any day now so I just want it to STOP oh my god I hate feelings.” Keith flops his head back to stare at the ceiling and avoid seeing whatever expressions Adam and Shiro are sporting right now. As much as it sucks, saying it out loud does help a little bit.

“Ya know, Keith,” Shiro starts, “I’m not sure what’s all going on with Lance and Allura, but from watching the two of you here the other night, it’s clear there’s something special between you. If that ends up only being friendship and nothing else, that’s still an incredible friendship that you’re lucky to have. I’ve never seen you open up like that with anyone before. And I may not know Lance very well, but it seems to me you’re something special to him too, or he wouldn’t have gone through all the effort I’m sure it took him to befriend you.”

“You know what I think?” Adam jumps in, “I think you both like each other but your heads are too far up your own asses to realize.”

“Adam,” Shiro says in his teacher voice.

“Hey, I have a great sense for these things, I’m just calling it as I see it. Don’t call it a lost cause yet, Keith.”

“Literally the only reason he started talking to me was because he wanted help getting with Allura. That’s been his goal since day one. There’s no possible way he could like me back, even if he wasn’t obsessed with Allura. We’re complete opposites, there’s no reason for him to like someone like me.”

“I think you’re selling yourself short, Keith,” Adam says, “mind telling us how your hair came to be so expertly braided?”

Keith’s face heats up, remembering Lance’s hands in his hair. The whole experience had been much more intimate than he’d signed up for when he sat down in front of Lance. After his initial discomfort though, he had to agree with Pidge. It was really nice. Lance’s fingers were soothing and gentle, even as he started pulling Keith’s hair into the braid (which was definitely more effective than any ponytail Keith’s ever managed). He even found himself a little disappointed when it was finished and Lance hopped over to Pidge for their turn.

“Lance did it. But it doesn’t mean anything, he apparently does this for a bunch of people.”

“You asked Lance to braid your hair?” Adam counters.

“No. He sort of insisted.” Keith reaches behind him to pull his hair tie free, his scalp tingling as his hair begins to fall out of the braid. “Just drop it Adam, he’s seeing Allura again in a few days because he wants to date her. He’s just a nice guy. And anyway, my pathetic feelings aren’t the only thing I wanted to talk about. I used my dad’s wood working tools for the first time tonight.”

“Really?” Shiro’s eyebrows raise to his hairline. He doesn’t say anything else, leaving space for Keith to say what he wants.

Instead of saying more, though, Keith reaches for his bag and pulls out the pieces he worked on, handing one to Adam and one to Shiro. They’re both palm-sized cylinders with swirling shapes and lines carved into them, nothing too fancy.

“I thought I remembered what he always used to smell like, but smelling it again for the first time in so long…” Keith trails off, feeling the emotions he’s been holding back all night rise to the surface.

Adam throws an arm over Keith’s shoulders and half-hugs him, still looking over the piece Keith handed him. He doesn’t say anything and neither does Shiro, the three sit and soak in the silence for a bit.

“You guys can keep one, if you want. I know they aren’t impressive or anything, so I won’t be offended if you hide it in a closet somewhere, but I want you to have it.” Keith knows they’ll understand the things he isn’t saying. That he appreciates everything they’ve done for him since he came here seven years ago, grieving and closed off. That they’re family. That he loves them.

For the rest of Keith’s visit, Shiro and Adam debate the merits of each piece, deciding which one to keep. The winner is proudly displayed on their mantel as Keith heads out to his bike to finally go home.


	10. No one listen to Allura, she has no clue what she’s talking about!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Lance POV chapter with a Keith POV introduction!
> 
> Can you tell I have no idea how to name chapters?
> 
> Sorry for some short chapters, but I have a feeling they are about to start getting long again!
> 
> Also! I have two ideas for how to lead up to a climactic point in this fic and I am completely stumped for which way to go! Both are great options. So if you want to help me out, please vote for hippo or shark in the comments (hippos and sharks have nothing to do with the scene options, they are just arbitrary markers that I have assigned to each idea) to help me decide! :D and feel free to share your favorite scene from this fic or any other thoughts while you're at it!
> 
> Thanks!

A few days later, Keith is biking home from the library and thinking about Lance, despite his best efforts. Specifically, he’s thinking about how Lance claimed to not be hungry at lunch today when Pidge announced they forgot their food, and how perfect that was because Lance didn’t want his lunch to go to waste so could they eat it for him? Pidge either didn’t see through Lance’s acting or was too hungry to care, but Keith ended up saving half his lunch and passing it to Lance in the hallway as they headed back to class. How was Keith supposed to lose feelings for the guy when he was just so…good?

Though lost in his thoughts, Keith’s eyes still catch on the light coming through the window of the diner he and Lance stalked Allura to. After a passing glance, Keith comes to a halt and looks again. Sure enough, there’s Lance, sitting across from Allura, who appears to be laughing at something Lance said. Keith stares a few minutes at the two of them, clearly having a good time and getting on great. They look good together. Lance deserves this. But that doesn’t stop Keith’s heart from twisting in his chest as he finally pedals away.

********************************************************************************************************************

“Lance? Are you alright?” Allura is giving him a curious look when Lance meets her gaze, remembering where he is and why.

“Yeah, I’m fine, great even!” Lance internally scolds himself for spacing, ready to focus 100% on Allura.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind tonight, anything you want to talk about?” Allura says this with a friendly grin, like of course she isn’t upset that he was completely ignoring her because she’s the nicest person in the whole world! Lance had been so excited when Allura agreed to hang out with him again and now he was blowing it in the complete opposite way than he did the first time!

“Sorry, it’s nothing really.”

“Do you like someone?”

“What?!” Lance feels like Allura just dumped ice water over his head with her question, but she just gives him a knowing smile.

“Come on Lance, you’ve only been half present all night until just now. It’s obvious there’s someone on your mind, so spill!” Allura pops a fry in her mouth and watches Lance like he’s a reality TV show she’s ready to binge.

“No I don’t like anyone! I mean, wait, I do like someone but, it’s not—I wasn’t—I was just distracted is all!” Lance is completely floundering. How did this go so wrong? He’s in love with Allura! And now she thinks he likes someone else? Because he was thinking about…Keith? 

Allura laughs, and Lance is at least glad she’s getting some amusement out of his distress. He’d gotten distracted because he ordered the milkshake that’s the special menu item right now, and he was thinking about how he should make sure Keith tries it because it’s delicious and he knows Keith won’t order it of his own volition. He’s actually been thinking about Keith a lot lately… but he’s a new friend, so that’s normal, right?

“Please Lance, I’m completely starved for new gossip, you must tell me who has you so distracted!” Allura gives him these big puppy dog eyes that he’s sure she knows are completely irresistible.

“Well…I was just thinking about…Keith?”

“Keith Kogane? The quiet angry-looking boy who writes the essays?”

Lance winces slightly at the description, “I mean yes, but he’s not really angry, or all that quiet once you get him talking. Sure, he’s a bit rough around the edges but he’s actually a lot of fun to hang out with and he can be surprisingly sincere when the moment calls for it. And you should see him when he puts his hair up, I had no idea someone that hot could also be that adorable, but you would never call him angry-looking if you saw that tiny ponytail, it’s just—” Lance trails off as he sees the shit-eating grin Allura is sporting, and his ears begin to catch up to his mouth to realize what he was saying.

Allura looks entirely too pleased with herself as she starts to say, “You—”

“NO!”

“—totally—”

“No, just stop talking, whatever you’re going to say is wrong!”

“—like him!” Allura practically squeals, you’d think she’d just won a radio contest with how excited she’s gotten.

“No, Allura, I don’t like him!”

“Are you quiznacking kidding me? Did you hear a word you just said? If only I’d recorded the look on your face, then you couldn’t possibly deny it!”

“What was on my face?!”

“Only the most smitten look I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“No, Allura, I’m serious I don’t like Keith! I like you!” Lance half shouts this and he’s sure the entire diner has heard their conversation by now, but he’s maybe starting to panic a little, because he DOESN’T. LIKE. KEITH. …right?

“Oh Lance,” Allura’s eyes are soft, like a parent explaining the facts of life to their child, “while I’m flattered by your declaration, I truly believe if you take a moment and listen to your heart, you’ll accept what you so obviously feel for Keith.”

“But I don’t…” The objection dies on Lance’s lips half-formed as he takes Allura’s advice and just thinks a moment. He thinks about all Keith’s smiles, from the soft small ones, to the one’s he tries to suppress, to the smirks, to the big genuine ones, to the uncertain ones. He thinks about Keith looking so blown away when Lance told him he had a drive to help others, and how still he got while working with his dad’s tools at self-care night as though there was so much happening inside him that he couldn’t spare any energy for outward movement. The way he relaxed under Lance’s touch when he gave him the head massage and after Lance finished his braid, how he’d reach up and gently pat it like he was worried he’d undo it but was still curious about it. And then Lance thinks about how Keith can never resist any of Lance’s challenges, no matter how stupid, and how he’ll take Lance’s teasing and throw it right back at him. He thinks about the way he feels completely at ease with Keith, like he can show any part of himself and not have to worry.

“Oh my god…” Lance breaths, staring at the table but not really seeing it, “I like Keith.”

“Exactly.”

“Allura. Oh my god, what am I going to do, I LIKE KEITH!”

“I know! Isn’t it wonderful? Now you must tell me absolutely everything about how this came to be, I want all the juicy details!” Allura tucks her hands under her chin, giving Lance all her attention, her eyes glittering in anticipation.

“Ha ha, well…” Lance wonders if telling her the truth is a good idea considering… “it’s actually kind of a funny story. I started hanging out with him because he was helping me…write letters…to you?” Lance rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, but Allura looks completely delighted.

“I knew it! I knew something was up, there were entirely too few pick up lines for those letters to have been just from you!”

“Hey!”

“Oh my goodness I can’t believe I brought you two together, how exciting! Alright, the whole story, from the beginning, please!”

Lance sighs. It seems like there’s no getting out of this, but he honestly will take the distraction from having to sort through his revelation right now and what it means for his brand new friendship with Keith. Keith, who thinks Lance is in love with Allura, because Lance said so several times, and paid him to help write her love letters… God, this is a mess. But for now, all Lance has to do is tell the story of how he came to catch feelings for the school loner to his newest friend.

“Ok, so it all started when Keith fell for me…because I accidentally knocked him off his bike.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how Allura gets so excited to gossip with her mice in the show, I always loved when she got to show her fun side and we saw that she really was just a young woman who had the weight of the universe on her shoulders <3 a true queen
> 
> Also I guess this is going to be a bit longer than 10 chapters, but definitely shorter than 20! I think!


	11. Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My POV changes are all over the place now. I'd apologize accept I know y'all are smart cookies and I'm pretty sure it's obvious enough in the writing, so I won't!
> 
> Also, thank you everyone who voted on the last chapter! Hippos is happening, but I actually found a way to change up sharks a bit and work it in in a different way! That's right, you get it all, I'm just that good.
> 
> Anyway. Did anyone ask for some klangst? No? Well it's pretty mild, so. Enjoy!

Keith has been avoiding him. Lance is sure of it. They live in a small town, they go to a small school, and Lance has been actively trying to get a moment with Keith, but the past few days he just can’t seem to catch the guy. He really needs to talk to Keith but he doesn’t want to just text him, and now that Lance is so obviously being avoided, he’s even more nervous to have this conversation. Whatever this conversation even is. 

Lance isn’t 100% sure what he should say. ‘Hey, you were right, I wasn’t in love with Allura but I might be more than a little into you’? ‘Turns out Allura and I are better as friends, by the way, wanna date me?’ ‘If I don’t kiss you in the next 12 seconds I may actually die please save me’? Lance really doesn’t want to be rejected and ruin the friendship he has with Keith, and the longer he tries and fails to talk to him, the more likely that seems. Why else would he avoid Lance other than that he noticed Lance’s completely obvious feelings and is now uncomfortable around him? Thinking back to some of the things Lance said and did to Keith the few times they hung out, it seems a forgone conclusion. 

But feelings or no, Lance isn’t ready to give up on their friendship, so he keeps trying to find Keith and say whatever he needs to say to end this avoidance.

This is what brings Lance to just outside the music room door during lunch period. He hears the opening notes to the song Mad World from the piano, it’s been looping for the last couple minutes. It has to be Keith. Lance is so nervous, which is stupid because one of the things he lo— _likes_ about Keith is how he doesn’t have to be nervous around him. He takes a deep breath and steps into the room.

Keith doesn’t notice him right away. He’s hunched over the keys, in his own world. An open lunch bag rests on the floor beside him, but it doesn’t look like any food has made its way out of it yet. His hair looks messier than usual, as though he had major bed-head and didn’t bother fixing it this morning. For a second Lance wonders if maybe something else is going on with Keith, something that has nothing to do with Lance but has just made him distant the past few days. He looks…worn out.

“Hey,” Lance does his best not to startle him, but Keith’s head still jerks up at his voice, eyes wide with surprise. His fingers stall and a single note lingers in the air. They both stare for a minute but when it’s clear Keith isn’t going to respond, Lance continues, “I haven’t seen you for a few days.”

“Oh.”

“Are you…alright?”

“M’fine.”

“Ok, that’s good…” Lance takes a few steps across the room, keeping his approach slow because Keith looks sort of fight-or-flight right now for some reason. “Did I…do something? To make you uncomfortable? Because I know I can be really in my own head sometimes and I do things without thinking so I’m really sorry if—”

“What?!” Keith’s spine straightens and his face says he’s completely shocked, “Lance, no you haven’t don’t anything, why would you think that?”

“Because you’ve been avoiding me for several days?”

“I’m not avoiding you.”

Lance just gives Keith a look, a you-and-I-both-know-that’s-bull-so-don’t-even look.

“Sorry,” Keith glances down at his hands, hair falling over his face, “I’m still new to the whole friends thing, I’m not used to anyone wanting to interact with me every day. Habit, I guess.”

Lance sighs, accepting that he won’t get a straight answer right now. Instead of pressing the matter, he goes over and sits beside Keith on the piano bench. Keith scoots to the side a bit to make room for him.

“You look like shit.” Lance declares, gently stroking his fingers over the piano keys, feeling the ridges between them but not producing any sound.

“Thanks.”

“Are you sure you’re alright? You can talk to me ya know. I know I run at the mouth sometimes, but I’m actually a great listener.”

Keith chuckles, and gently bumps his shoulder with Lance’s. “Don’t worry about me. I…I’ll let you know, if I ever need to talk.”

“You better. And stop avoiding me. I missed making fun of you.”

“Wow Lance, that really makes me wanna spend time with you.”

“I know right? It’s my irresistible charisma. If it works on you, it’ll work on anyone.” Lance looks over at Keith with a teasing smile right as Keith turns toward Lance, whatever snarky remark he had to say dying on his lips as his breath hitches.

Lance freezes. Stuck staring into those deep, purple tinted eyes. It’s like the room has shrunk, and the only space that exists is the few inches between the tips of their noses. Lance thinks he’s stopped breathing but it’s hard to tell when all his focus is on resisting the magnetism he feels toward the boy in front of him. With all his efforts assigned to _not_ leaning in, Lance can’t resist glancing down at Keith’s lips, still parted with unsaid words. Though it’s likely been a handful of seconds, to Lance’s willpower, it feels like hours could have passed. And that willpower is starting to crumble the longer Keith stays frozen as well, not moving closer, but certainly not moving further away.

“Hey, there you guys are!” Lance and Keith jump at Hunk’s voice, and Lance grunts as he loses his balance and falls to the floor.

“Ow.”

“Sorry Lance, are you ok?”

“I’m good buddy, no worries.” Lance waves an arm in the air to show he’s alright, but makes no effort to get up. He’s still recovering from that moment with Keith and needs the excuse to not look at him for a bit. God, Lance can’t imagine what kissing Keith would be like if NOT kissing him was that intense. Aaaaaaand now he’s thinking about kissing Keith, DAMMIT BRAIN GET IT TOGETHER!

“Did you guys eat lunch yet?” Hunk asks, “Pidge and I were worried when you didn’t show up at the cafeteria.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Pidge appears from behind Hunk, half-eaten sandwich in hand, “but Hunk insisted we make sure you were ok before we started eating.” They take another bite of their sandwich and plop into a chair.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Keith says, and Lance glances up at him, still seated on the piano bench. “Come on, dumbass, get off the floor,” Keith says while holding a hand out to help Lance up.

Lance takes it, and tries not to focus on how soft Keith’s hand is or the butterflies in his stomach as he stands. Maybe his friendship with Keith will be ok.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

Keith’s friendship with Lance is ruined.

Keith reaches into his lunch bag to start eating as Hunk, Pidge, and Lance chat, like everything’s fine and normal, but internally, he’s freaking out.

What the fuck was that? One second he and Lance are bantering like always and the next, it’s like a moment from one of Keith’s romance novels. Except not like that at all, because Lance doesn’t like him. Keith is so confused. If Keith didn’t know any better, he’d say it seemed like Lance wanted to kiss him. But that’s just stupid wishful thinking, Keith projecting his desires onto the situation. It wasn’t real.

Lance was right when he accused Keith of avoiding him. After seeing him and Allura at the diner, he just couldn’t face Lance’s inevitable joy at how well things are going between them without being completely obvious about his stupid pining. So he’s kept his distance. He didn’t think Lance would care. A little over a month ago they’d never even spoken to each other, so why should it matter if Keith disappeared for a few days now? But when Lance came into the music room, he seemed so upset. He even thought he’d done something to upset Keith! 

The only solution is for Keith to change his name and leave town. He’ll have to come up with a reason to tell his mom, ya know, something other than _feelings_. He’s not sure how to break it to Adam and Shiro, but he’s sure they’ll understand, they are both disaster gays after all.

Keith is in the middle of planning his new life far away from cute boys with warm hands and easy smiles (and definitely NOT thinking about that weird not-moment with Lance) when he’s brought back to the present by Pidge jumping up from their seat and tugging Lance out of the room.

“Right now?!” Lance squawks, tripping over his own feet.

“You lost the bet, you buy the chocolate milk. I want it now!”

And they’re gone.

Keith glances over at Hunk, who seems completely unconcerned by this turn of events. 

“I think I missed something…?”

“You really didn’t,” Hunk says, glancing back at Keith. “Pidge and Lance make these stupid bets all the time, they just had a bet to see who could balance on the back two legs of their chair longest. Pidge won.”

“Oh.”

Keith fidgets with his lunch bag, fighting a losing battle against his curiosity. Whatever, he’ll just ask and when Hunk answers then he’ll know for sure it wasn’t what he thought and he can put it to rest.

“Hunk.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Have you ever…” come on Keith, just ask! “Have you ever kissed anyone?”

Hunk freezes for a second, probably surprised by the question. “Oh! Um, I mean, yeah, I have, one person, one time. What do you want to know about it?”

“I was just wondering… how do you know when someone wants to kiss you?” Keith knows what will happen next. Hunk will describe something completely different than that weird time suspension he felt with Lance, and then he won’t have any room for hope. Real life isn’t romance novels.

“Hmm. Well, with Shay, the girl I met at summer camp, it was kind of subtle, I guess? We had taken a walk together and were sitting by the lake, she was telling me about rocks because she’s really smart and knows all these cool facts about them. Anyway, we were sitting there when suddenly we both happened to look at each other and it was like…I don’t know it was weird, but it was like everything slowed down, ya know? We were just in each other’s space but neither of us moved away or started talking again. I guess that’s how you know. That probably didn’t make any sense, but I don’t really know how else to explain it. Woah, Keith, you ok?”

Keith can feel the heat in his face, and he can only imagine what he must look like to Hunk right now. That was not what he was expecting. Hunk was supposed to crush his hope, not fan the flames!

“I’m fine. I just realized, I told Shiro I’d stop by his classroom before lunch ended, so I should go. Thanks Hunk.”

Keith grabs his lunch and bolts out of the room. Time to plan how to convince his mom to move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK! SO! I've definitely never in my whole life written kisses or even almost kisses or anything remotely romantic so ummmmmmmmm how'd I do for a first try? I feel like I've just set up a lot of expectation for the actual kiss, so I'm hoping I get struck by divine inspiration when the time comes.
> 
> Also! Yay for Hunk Keith friendship moments! :D They had some really lovely moments in the show, so I'm glad I found a way to work one in here!


	12. Meeting the McClains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is somehow twice as long as most of the others, these McClains sure like to talk
> 
> Edit: 5/23  
> I somehow forgot that Lance's mom already knows Keith, since Keith plays organ for her services, and didn't realize til I was rereading the whole thing from the start just now! Not sure if I'm glad or betrayed that no one called me on it in the comments lol. So if you're here for a reread, just know you aren't crazy, I did edit that scene with Lance's mom to fix the continuity issue. And thanks for rereading! :D

Keith stands on a worn porch with peeling paint, staring at an equally worn front door. He’s questioning all the life choices that have brought him here, and working up the courage to knock. He can already hear voices through the walls. Squeals from children, followed by the deeper reprimand of adults. Thundering footsteps, and cabinet doors slamming closed. So different from the quiet of his apartment with his mom.

When Lance asked him to come by, Keith had kind of forgotten about the whole giant family thing that he has going on. Now that he’s been reminded he’s not sure he’s really ready for all…that. So he’s been standing staring at the door for the past five minutes. Waiting for fate to intervene in the form of some alien ship abducting him off the porch, or—

The door swings inward, and the noises from within become even louder. A young woman nearly barrels into Keith as she shouts in Spanish over her shoulder.

“Woah!”

“Sorry!” Keith says, about to say more when he freezes under the young woman’s scrutinizing gaze. She has Lance’s brown hair, and blue eyes a shade lighter than his. She’s looking Keith up and down from behind her glasses like she can see his every flaw and insecurity, and it’s kinda freaking him out.

“Uh—”

“ _Hey!_ ” she shouts back through the open doorway in Spanish again, too fast for Keith’s rudimentary understanding of the language to follow, “ _who wants to claim the cute boy sitting on our porch? I gotta go to work._ ”

Then, she strides past Keith and gets into a car parked in the driveway.

When Keith looks back through the open door, several people are staring at him. When he feels a jab in his stomach, he looks down.

“Who are you?” a young boy looks up at him, finger still held at the ready for another poke if necessary. He has colorful bandaids on his knees and as he waits for Keith to respond, he uses his tongue to wiggle a loose front tooth. If Keith had to guess, he’s probably six or seven.

“I’m Keith.”

“OH!” A new voice draws Keith’s eye as a young girl pops up beside Keith’s interrogator. She’s maybe four, with lopsided pigtails and bright eyes. “Are you the Keef that Tío Lance keeps talking about?”

“Nadia, Sylvio! Leave Keith alone!” Keith looks up and there’s Lance coming down the staircase in a loose tank top and shorts. It’s one of those tank tops where the arm hole spans almost the entire length of the torso. Keith has never understood them before, but on Lance….

Lance shoos the kids away as his mother comes up behind him. Before Lance has a chance to say anything to Keith, she’s speaking.

“Lance! How could you leave your guest standing out on the porch like that, invite him inside and introduce us!”

“I’m getting to it Mamá, I didn’t know he was here yet! And anyway, you already know Keith, he plays at your services.”

“That doesn’t mean you can skip out on giving us a proper introduction!”

Lance rolls his eyes, but proceeds with the introduction, “Keith, please come in, this is Maria McClain, Mamá, this is my friend Keith.” Lance grabs Keith’s arm and pulls him through the threshold, which is good because Keith wasn’t sure when he was going to manage that on his own.

Keith holds his hand out to Mrs. McClain. She has that soft mom look about her when she’s not in front of a congregation, but Keith already knows this is a woman you don’t want to mess with. 

“It’s really nice to see you Mrs. McClain, thanks for having me into your home.”

“Oh, such manners!” Mrs. McClain grabs Keith’s hand and pulls him into a hug. Through his surprise, Keith can hear Lance’s muffled “Mamá!” like he’s saying it with his hand over his face. “You are more than welcome here Keith, and please, none of this Mrs. McClain business, call me Maria!”

“Thank you.” Keith regains his balance and tries to hide how overwhelmed he’s feeling right now. He glances at Lance, hoping he won’t have to do this with every member of his family.

“You know Lance, you could learn a thing or two from this nice young man, I hope you’re taking notes.” Maria winks at her son, who’s spluttering in offense at the suggestion, and Keith completely understands where Lance gets all his Lance-ness.

“Ok, Mamá, you’ve been introduced, now Keith and I are going upstairs!” Without waiting for a reply, Lance once again grabs Keith’s arm and drags him up the staircase he just descended from.

“Hey man, why didn’t you text me you were here? Could have saved you at least some of all that. Sorry, by the way, I know they can be a bit intense.”

“I just got here,” Keith lies, not wanting to admit how close he was to ditching entirely and texting Lance an excuse.

Lance finally lets go of Keith’s arm as they approach a doorway in the narrow hall at the top of the stairs. When Lance props his arm high on the door frame and leans forward, Keith gets a very clear view smooth tan skin and subtle bumps of ribcage. He’s still deciding whether to stare or look away when Lance speaks.

“Hey Rach, Keith’s here, can we have the room?”

“Oh really?” Keith hears Rachel’s voice from through the doorway. He tears his eyes from Lance’s torso to look past him. All he can see is a twin bed in the corner directly in front of him, where Rachel is sprawled, phone in hand, looking up at Lance like the cat who got the cream. “Why do you and Keith need the room?”

“Rachel! Oh my gosh just leave and I’ll do your chores for the rest of the week.”

“Deal!” She jumps up and heads out the door, pausing when she’s directly in front of Lance. Then she’s heading down the hall and he and Lance are alone.

Lance lets out a breath Keith didn’t know he was holding and enters the room, turning to the right and flopping onto a bed Keith couldn’t see from the doorway. The room is cluttered in that teenager kind of way. Clothes hang over the back of a desk chair and tumble from dresser drawers, there’s some books stacked on the floor by Lance’s bed and a guitar leaned against the wall. He’s got a bisexual pride flag pinned above his bed, mirrored by the rainbow flag above Rachel’s bed.

Keith stands in the middle of the room, hoping he doesn’t look as hopelessly lost as he feels. This isn’t like the self-care night with Pidge and Hunk where there were defined activities to do. Lance just texted him to ‘hang out’ but Keith doesn’t really know what that means. He was half wondering if Pidge and Hunk would be here too, but it seems like it’s just the two of them which…Keith isn’t going to read into.

“Hey”

Keith looks over to Lance, who is now sitting upright on his bed. He’s holding a deck of cards.

“Wanna get your ass kicked at a card game?”

“Why, you gonna cheat?” Keith goes to sit across from Lance on the bed, leaving space between them for whatever game Lance is about to lose at.

“Keith, come on, give me some credit! I am a man of honor. I win fair and square.”

“What are we playing?”

“Ever played Egyptian Rat Screw?” Lance begins to shuffle the cards, sliding them together a few times and then separating it into halves and bridging them. Keith has to admit, it’s pretty impressive how seamless he makes the trick look, especially in mid-air. But Keith won’t tell Lance that.

“Never heard of it.”

“Alright, then prepare to be schooled!” Lance hands Keith half the deck, holding his own half face down in one hand. “The premise is simple. We take turns flipping a card from the top of our deck onto the middle of the bed in a single stack. The goal is to end the game with all the cards. There are two ways to get cards. Face cards and the Ace are power cards with special rules where when one is played, the opposing player has a certain number of chances to flip a power card themselves, Ace gets 4 chances, Kings 3, Queens 2, and Jacks 1. If the player fails to flip a power card, the whole stack goes to the one who played the power card. If the player does flip a power card, they stop there and the other player has to try, until one of them doesn’t get it. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“The other way to get points,” Lance smirks, and he has a mischievous look in his eye, “is to slap.”

“Slap?”

“Yep. You can slap the center stack to win it under certain circumstances: pairs or sandwiches. A pair, obviously, is when two of the same number or face are directly on top of each other. A sandwich is when two of the same number or face are separated by a different card, like a sandwich.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“So any time you notice a pair or sandwich, you can slap the stack before the next card is played. Whoever’s hand hits first gets the stack. BUT! If you slap when there isn’t a pair or sandwich, you have to throw your next two cards at the bottom of the stack. That’s called two for stupid. And that’s the whole game! It’s best with big groups but it’s fun with two, too. You ready?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.” Keith shifts on the bed, holding his deck in one hand and focusing in on where the center stack will soon be. If Lance thinks he’s winning any slaps, he’s so wrong.

“Alright, I’ll start.” Lance flips up his first card and Keith quickly flips his on top of it. They continue in a tense silence for a few seconds until Keith spots two 7’s stacked and goes for the slap.

SMACK!

Instead of the cards beneath his palm, he feels a hand, Lance’s hand, which somehow managed to get to the cards faster than Keith’s.

“Damn Keith! You really went for that didn’t you?” Lance slides his hand out from under Keith’s and shakes it a bit, the top of it already turning red from the impact. “If you wanted to hold my hand, you could’ve just asked.” Lance winks and grabs the stack to add to the bottom of his deck.

“How the heck did you get on that so fast?!” Keith ignores the hand holding line, and the wink, still flabbergasted that Lance beat him.

“You’re up against a pro, Kogane, don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“Again.”

Lance chuckles, “I knew you’d be way too into this. Alright, let’s dance, Keith!” He flips his card.

*****************************************************************************************************

They’re on their third game and Keith still can’t win any slaps. Lance’s hand is bright red from Keith’s many attempts, but he hasn’t complained since the first time. He has bragged, however, loudly, and the only communication between the two for the past thirty minutes has been Lance’s victory shouts and Keith’s groans of frustration. What’s surprising is more that they didn’t draw attention for so long, rather than the fact that they finally have.

“You playing Egyptian Rat Screw? Let me slap in!” A larger version of Lance with shaggier hair stands in the doorway, and Rachel’s head pops in behind him.

“If Marco gets to play, I do too!”

“Go play your own game!” Lance shouts back.

“Come on, Keith isn’t getting the full experience with just you, it’s way better with more people!”

Lance catches Keith’s eye from its path bouncing between the siblings. “Keith, if you want me to tell them to fuck off, I will.”

“Hey!”

“Seriously, it’s my pleasure to kick these losers out.”

“Please,” Marco says, “Everything you know you learned from me, doofus.”

“Then I guess you’re a doofus, too.”

“Lance,” Keith finally interrupts, sensing this could go on for a while, “it’s cool. They can play.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal.” Keith gets up and sits on the floor, moving the game to accommodate the new players.

“Heck yeah, thanks Keith, but also, you’re going down.” Marco sits next to Keith, and Lance settles on Keith’s other side, setting the stack within reach of everyone as they get situated.

“That all depends on if you even manage to slap in,” Lance taunts, “Ready Keith?”

Keith flips his card by way of answering, since it was his go when they were interrupted.

Keith’s slap success-rate does not increase with added players. Despite Lance’s smack talk, both Rachel and Marco manage to get in the game fairly quickly. With the deck spread among four people, Keith is feeling the pressure to hold on to cards. But Lance was right, the game is more fun with added players, even if Keith’s hand is starting to sting.

If Keith weren’t so focused on the game, he might be worried his eyes would fall out of their sockets with how aggressively he’s staring at the center pile. He hasn’t managed it yet, but he is NOT leaving until he’s won a slap. The pace of the game is a little different with four players, but the McClain’s play fast and it’s clear this game is in their blood. But Keith is determined. He will feel the cards beneath his palm. He _will_ —

SMACK!

The impact of three hands smashing into his reverberates through Keith’s bones. He feels the edges of the cards against his palm. He sees his wrist at the bottom of the stack, followed by Lance’s, Rachel’s, and Marco’s.

“KEITH GOT HIS FIRST SLAP!” Lance shouts, and suddenly everyone is cheering.

“Way to go man!”

“That was so fast, I didn’t even see it happen!”

“It took Lance months to win his first slap.”

“Hey, I was like seven!”

“So was Rach, but she got it in like two weeks.”

“OKAY!” Lance shouts, cutting Marco off, “Keith got his first slap, we have to commemorate it.”

“Commemorate it how?” Keith asks warily.

“It is a McClain family tradition that all other players high five you and you have to use the hand you just slapped with.”

Keith’s hand still stings from his victory, he’s not sure he likes where this is going. Still, he holds his hand up and braces for impact.

Marco winds up and smacks Keith’s hand so hard, it almost knocks him backwards.

“Fuck! Why is this a tradition, are you all masochists?”

“It’s more for the Schadenfreude,” Rachel says with a smirk, leaning toward Keith and whacking his hand next.

Keith thinks he might permanently lose feeling in his hand, as it’s begun to tingle and is so bright red it could blend in with a tomato. He shakes it out but that just makes it tingle more.

He turns to Lance, holding his hand up one last time. He preemptively squeezes his eyes shut, ready for this to be over.

Instead of the hard hit he’s expecting, he feels Lance’s hand settle gently over his, and just rest there, palm to palm. He opens his eye’s just as Lance’s hand slides away, but Lance is looking down at the stack. He picks it up and hands it to Keith.

“Lame!” Marco says, “way to wimp out Lance, have you gone soft?”

Before Lance can reply, Nadia and Sylvio run into the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Can I play?”

“I wanna play too!”

“Babies aren’t allowed.”

“Hey, I thought you two were going to the store with Mamá,” Lance interrupts.

“We just got back! And mommy and daddy are here too!” Nadia settles into Lance’s lap as she explains. “Tío Lance, can you give me braids? I wanna look pretty!”

“You’re always pretty, Nadia!” Lance hugs her to his chest as she squirms and giggles. Keith’s never been too comfortable around kids, but seeing Lance with his niece makes him appreciate people who are.

“Hey,” A new face appears in the doorway, a man who’s obviously a McClain and likely Nadia and Sylvio’s dad, “we got a party going on in the twin’s room? What’s happening?”

“Hey Luis! Lance’s friend Keith just got his first slap. He just learned the game from Lance like an hour ago.” Rachel stands with Sylvio on her back monkey-style, giving him a quick ride around the small room.

“Egyptian rat screw, huh? I’m in! Let’s move it down to the table and I’ll get Lisa to join. We can teach Sylvio.”

“Yes!” Sylvio cheers from his perch, “Tía Rachel, let’s go downstairs and get spots at the table!”

“But I wanna play too!” Nadia whines. Lance gave her two quick braids, and he’s just tying the last one off.

“You can hang out and watch sweetie, but you need to be a bit older before you can play this one.” Luis scoops up his youngest and carries her downstairs. Marco’s gathered all the cards and heads out too, so it’s down to just Keith and Lance again.

“You look like your brain’s melting a little bit, you good?” Lance nudges Keith’s shoulder and Keith tries to fix whatever expression he was wearing through that tornado of people that just happened.

“I’m good.” Lance’s family is an experience like none Keith has had before. Individually, they all seem pretty loud and energetic, but put them together, and they feed off each other. Keith’s definitely going to need some time to recharge after this.

Maybe Lance picks up on that, or maybe it’s coincidence, but either way, Keith’s surprised when Lance says, “Wanna get outta here?”

“Don’t you wanna see your nephew learn the game? Seems like a big thing for you guys.”

“Sylvio won’t really get it til he’s played it a few times, today he’s just gonna be frustrated and drop out early, trust me. And anyway, there’s something I wanna show you.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t just tell you, it’s a surprise.” Lance stands and holds a hand out to Keith, which he takes. After Lance pulls him up, he keeps ahold of his hand a second longer than necessary. Or maybe that’s just Keith’s imagination.

“I’m supposed to just trust you to take me to some unspecified location?”

“Come on, Keith, where’s your sense of adventure? You seem like the type to have one of those. Promise I won’t ax murder you, how’s that?” They’re headed downstairs and it seems the family had no qualms starting the game without them based off the yells coming from the dining room.

Lance pops his head in and converses with his mom in Spanish quick, then grabs a set of keys from a shelf by the door and turns to Keith with a smile.

“Let’s go Keith, we’re wasting daylight!”

Keith follows Lance out the door and to an older looking car parked at the curb, trying and failing to not get too excited about this surprise Lance wants to share with him. Keith takes a moment before opening the passenger door, reminding himself of the image of Lance and Allura in that diner, of the entire foundation for this friendship. Lance isn’t Keith’s to want. And Keith is grateful for his friendship. Keith lets out a breath and gets in the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to take a moment to decide whether Keith would make a tutu joke, and decided he wouldn't. But I would. Lance said tutu lol
> 
> Anyone here know egyptian rat screw? Before Lance explained it in unnecessary detail, anyway? Wasn't sure what to do for this scene, but I was playing this game recently and I loved it as a teenager, and it seemed very Keith and Lance so here we are! And hand touching, duh
> 
> Where are they going? What's this mysterious surprise? WHEN WILL KEITH STOP SURPRESSING HIS FEELINGS!!!! Allura is cock blocking and she isn't even there smh. Plus she totally ships it! These two can be so frustrating lol
> 
> BTW if you've been reading the notes where I randomly attempt to assign a length to this fic, just ignore them, I keep adding things, who knows how long this will be! What an adventure! But I promise, I won't string you along forever, the boys are getting somewhere!
> 
> If you read all this, you deserve a cookie, so go eat one! Thanks for reading!


	13. Lance's Favorite Secret Place

“Seriously Lance, where are we going?” Keith is looking out his window at the forest of trees going past when Lance glances over. Lance knows Keith has absolutely no clue where they are headed because there isn’t anything particular in this direction. Not unless you know what Lance knows, that is. “Your promise of no ax murders isn’t looking so great.”

“Relax, Mullet,” Lance turns his attention back to the road, “we’re going to my favorite secret place.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Just chill, we’re almost there. Prepare to have your mind blown.”

A few minutes later Lance pulls to the side of the road at the tree with the broken branch where he always leaves the car. As he gets out and grabs a drawstring bag from the back seat, Keith stays put.

“Come on, we gotta go on foot from here.”

Lance hears Keith’s car door and heads into the trees, assuming Keith will follow. 

“We’re just leaving the car here?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine, I do this all the time. Stop worrying so much.”

Lance hears Keith grumble, but then his footsteps are hurrying after him, and soon he’s caught up.

After a few minutes of hiking, Lance spots the clearing. Anticipation builds in his stomach, and he glances at Keith to watch his reaction.

Keith’s head tilts in interest as he notices the clearing as well, and when they break through the trees, his eyes go wide in just the expression of awe Lance hoped for.

“Woah…”

“I know, cool right?” They’re at a natural hot spring. It’s a bit bigger than a hot tub, completely enclosed by the trees and surrounded by a rocky ridge. It feels like something from an expensive resort, and it’s Lance’s favorite place that no one else seems to know about.

Lance moves to put his bag down, opening it to reach inside. “I come here when I need a break from the house, it’s like the only way I can get actual privacy. It was a godsend when I found it at the beginning of high school. Plus, there’s no signal, so it’s like no one can reach us.” He pulls out a small radio and extends an antenna, shifting the dial until classic rock drifts from the speakers.

He glances up at Keith, catching his eye before Keith looks away to take in the spring. It really is an incredible sight. Being here feels like being transported to another planet, it’s so far removed from life in their small town. He’s never brought anyone here before, but he’s glad to share it with Keith.

Lance stands and swiftly pulls his tank top over his head. He hears a crunching of twigs and glances over to see that Keith has turned away from him, and the back of his neck looks a little flushed.

“Uh, what are you doing?!”

Lance chuckles, he didn’t expect Keith to be the shy type. It’s cute. “We aren’t just here to look at it Keith! The best part is getting in!”

Lance ditches his shorts and shoes as well so he’s down to his boxers, then he eases into the water. It comes midway up his torso when standing, and he sinks down into the warmth. Glancing back, he sees Keith let out a breath before pulling his shirt off as well. Lance turns away, he doesn’t want to make Keith uncomfortable, looking back when he feels the water ripple from Keith joining him.

Lance tries not to stare, or at least not to stare too obviously, but Keith is gorgeous. Here in the spring, with the steam rising around them, the sunlight filtering through the leaves, and the forest back drop, he looks other-worldly. His smooth pale skin is almost like a statue, and he has the physique for it as well. Lean muscles tense in his chest as he gets used to the water temperature, and as he lifts an arm to push his hair out of his face, Lance wonders if this could just be from all his biking, or if he works out. It’s a good thing Lance is confident in his looks, because next to Keith, anyone would feel plain.

“So, is your mind sufficiently blown?” Lance smirks as Keith’s eyes dip down to his chest before zipping right back up to his eyes. Gosh, this boy is going to end him, honestly.

“Yeah, this is amazing Lance.” Keith reaches up again to push his hair back. Lance notices he doesn’t have a hair tie with him today, but it really seems to be bothering him in the heat.

“Hey, want me to braid that for you?” Lance wades closer to Keith, but Keith tenses a little and takes a small step away to keep distance between them, backing up against the rocks.

“No, that’s ok, I’m fine.”

“It’s no big deal, your hair is clearly bothering you and it should hold decently even without a tie.”

“Lance, it’s fine, I’m used to it.”

“Come on, Keith, it’ll just take a minute and then you won’t have to keep pushing it—”

Lance is interrupted as water rushes into his face from where Keith just smacked the surface of the hot spring. The surprise more than anything stuns Lance into silence, and he can hear Keith’s attempt at stifling his laughter.

“Oh, it is ON Kogane!” Lance shoves the water hard at Keith, catching him mid-laugh on accident. Keith sputters and coughs, leaning forward so the water will run off his face, and Lance is instantly filled with regret.

“Oh my gosh Keith, I’m so sorry are you ok?” He steps forward and puts a hand on Keith’s back, bending to try and catch his eye and make sure he’s alright, when he feels hands on his shoulders and he’s shoved under the water.

Lance grew up with four siblings, so he knows this game well. Keith has made a grave mistake entering this dance with him. Lance grabs Keith’s legs before emerging from the water, lifting the other boy and making sure to angle him away from the rocky ledge before tipping them both back into the water.

Keith’s shouts of surprise are quickly stifled by the mouthful of water he probably just got, and Lance smirks in triumph. When they’re both righted again, it’s a full-out water war.

As much as Lance is determined to win this battle and crush Keith like he deserves, he still can’t help but appreciate the sound of Keith’s laugh ringing through the air, or the way his whole face scrunches up when he smiles really hard. If Lance had any doubts about his feelings for Keith before, they’ve dissipated as quickly as the steam rising from the spring. Keith is beautiful, and so full of life. He’s like a flame, steady and quiet most of the time, but if you get him going, he blazes up and draws in everything around him. Lance couldn’t resist if he wanted to. 

When they finally call a truce, both boys are thoroughly soaked and exhausted. Lance closes his eyes and floats on his back as Steve Miller Band’s Jungle Love plays quietly from the radio, absorbing the peace of the forest around them, the tranquility of being miles away from anyone else.

“Your soulmate,” he hears Keith murmur. Lance opens an eye to peak at Keith, who’s standing a few feet away watching him with an awed look.

“What was that?”

“The way your floating. With the reflection off the water, it’s like you have four legs, four arms, and two faces. Like the ancient Greeks believed humans were originally created. You’re whole.”

Lance shifts from his floating and stares at Keith. All his life, he’s been half of a set because he’s a twin. And growing up, he’s felt different, at times even felt broken, whether it was from coming to terms with his sexuality or just seeing the way people would look at him funny when he’d get excited and start rambling about something. He hasn’t really talked about it with anyone before, and he’s certainly never had anyone look him straight in the eye and say with absolute certainty that he was whole. And Keith means it, Lance can tell. There’s a reverence in the air from the way Keith spoke about him. Lance feels like a balloon is inflating in his chest.

“Float with me.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I’ll show you.” Lance holds a hand out toward Keith, inviting him to come toward the center of the spring.

For a second, Keith just stares at Lance with an unreadable face, and Lance thinks he isn’t going to budge. But then, he takes Lance’s hand and steps forward, holding eye contact the entire time.

“Lay back,” Lance directs, placing a hand gently on Keith’s shoulder and applying the slightest pressure to tip him back.

“You’re gonna tilt your chin up, like this,” Lance takes the opportunity to run his fingers through Keith’s hair under the water, cradling the back of his head and guiding him so his mouth and nose are tilted up and his ears are submerged. When he looks back to Keith’s eyes, they’re blazing, and he almost looks upset.

“Are you alright?”

“Can you just stop already?!” Keith practically growls through gritted teeth, standing and moving away from a completely shocked Lance.

“Stop what?” Of course Lance will stop anything that would make Keith this uncomfortable, but he has no idea what he did.

“STOP DOING THINGS THAT MAKE ME THINK YOU LIKE ME!” Keith yells, turning away from Lance, fists clenched at his side. Then, quietly, almost as if he’s really speaking to himself, he says “I know you like Allura, so why are you acting like this?”

Shit shit shit. “Keith, I’ve been meaning to tell you, I don’t like Allura.”

“Yes, you do!”

“No I don’t, not like that anyway. We’re just friends.” Lance feels something like panic build in his chest. How did he let it get to this? Of course Keith is frustrated and confused. Lance should have just texted Keith when he was avoiding Lance. 

Keith turns back to face him, still keeping distance between them. “What are you talking about? You’re in love with her.” His face is a stony determination, but Lance _has_ to break through.

“Keith, just listen to me, would ya? You were right! I didn’t love her! I was obsessed with an idea and I called it love because it was easy, but I didn’t know her.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.”

“Because it’s you, Keith! God, it’s you, can’t you see that?!” Lance reaches pleading hands toward Keith, wanting so badly to wipe that wary expression from his face and leave him with no doubt about Lance’s feelings for him. “It’s been you for weeks and I was so fixated on her that I missed it. But everyone could see it. Allura saw it, I only said like three sentences about you and she called me on it immediately.”

“What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense.” Keith spits the words like they leave a bad taste in his mouth and looks down, his hair covering his face, shutting himself off from Lance entirely. “There’s no reason for you to like me. I’m nothing special.”

Nothing. Special?! Ok, now Lance is angry. How the _fuck_ can Keith not see how amazing he is?

“That’s a fucking lie, Kogane, because if that were true then why is it that all I can think about anymore is you?!” Lance is yelling now too, but he can’t stop himself, “When I’m with Allura at the diner, and I’m supposed to be focused on her because I’m supposedly in love with her, all I can see is how stupidly cute you looked trying fries and milkshakes for the first time. And all I want is to introduce you to a million more things because I always want to be the one who sees that first reaction. When you’re not around I wonder what you’d say if you were with me. You are so _full_ Keith, there’s so much inside you and I want to know all of it! I’ve only gotten glimpses so far, but every bit just makes me want you more. Like you hardly ever talk about your mom, but when you do you get the softest look on your face it’s so incredibly obvious how much you love her, and anytime you try something new and don’t get it on the first try you get this confused frustrated look like you can’t understand how something didn’t come naturally to you, and you don’t know how the fuck emojis work so you text like an old man, and you make me explain memes to you because you live under a rock. And all of it just makes me like you more. I _like you_ , Keith. You, not Allura. Got it?” Lance is breathing hard after that torrent of words that just spewed from him, and he waits for Keith to reply, ready to fight round two if he has to.

“You like me?” The disbelief still lingering in Keith’s voice has Lance ready to throw hands.

“Yes, you idiot, I like you so much it scares me!” Lance turns and paces to the other end of the spring, away from Keith. He’s so worked up right now he can’t deal with seeing him. “Ever since we started hanging out it’s like I’m more me than I’ve ever been, like I was only half awake before but you woke me up.” Lance is mostly talking to himself at this point, coming down from the heightened emotions of the past few minutes. “I can’t even imagine my life without you anymore. So, if you want to forget everything I just said, if it makes you uncomfortable or anything, just act like it never happened, please, because the worst thing that could happen right now is losing your friendship entirely. I wanna keep getting to know you any way I can, and if that’s just platonic for you then I’m happy with that. I just…I needed you to know. You’re really special Keith, so don’t say that you aren’t.”

In the silence that follows, everything that Lance said over the past few minutes sinks in. He didn’t mean to confess like that, that angrily, or that much. When he hears the water rippling from Keith’s movement, nerves build in his chest, and he waits to know his fate. A hand grabs his shoulder and turns him, and suddenly, Keith is kissing him.

Keith is kissing Lance.

Lance’s face is in contact with Keith’s face.

Keith’s hands are clasped on Lance’s shoulders and his lips are on Lance's and OH MY GOSH KEITH IS KISSING HIM!

Lance’s eyes are wide in surprise, and he can see Keith’s are scrunched closed, his eyebrows drawn together in determination. Seeing Keith’s conviction is enough to restart Lance’s brain and he gets with the program, grabbing Keith and kissing him back before he can pull away.

Feeling Lance respond seems to trigger something in Keith, because though the kiss was initially hesitant and still, Keith is now pushing Lance against the ridge of the spring and moving his lips against Lance’s like he’s starved for them.

Lance gets lost in it, following Keith’s lead and slipping a hand into his still soaking hair. Lance’s fingers curve against Keith’s scalp, grasping his hair as Keith grips the back of Lance’s neck, both pulling Lance to him and pushing himself against Lance like he can’t get close enough. Lance couldn’t agree more. He swipes his tongue against Keith’s bottom lip, an exploration as much as a question, one which Keith answers enthusiastically, plunging his tongue into Lance’s mouth like he wants to crawl inside him and make a home there. 

Keith’s hands move down to Lance’s thighs, pulling lightly in suggestion. Lance gladly complies, wrapping his legs around Keith’s torso as Keith continues to press him against the ridge, ignoring the small stabs of rocks and twigs into his spine because there’s no way he’s letting this end sooner than it has to.

Their mouths separate enough for Lance to take a deep breath, but neither boy goes far, taking a moment to just breathe each other in as the oxygen rushes back to their brains, their noses brushing together gently. Lance allows himself to feel those muscles he’d been admiring earlier, exploring Keith’s shoulders and back as Keith continues to hold Lance against him.

“Holy shit,” Keith breathes, “you’re gonna kill me.” His eyes are closed and he has Lance’s favorite soft smile on his lips.

“Not if you kill me first,” Lance replies, before ducking down to steal Keith’s lips again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD THEY DID IT! 
> 
> Feel free to scream at me in the comments, it only took over 20,000 words but they finally broke the sexual tension! :D
> 
> Haha, a little nervous about posting this but mostly excited, hope you liked it BYE!


	14. Now it's Personal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear reader <3
> 
> You may have noticed this is officially the last chapter of this fic. I'm going to explain more in the end notes, but just know that I have more ideas for this AU that I want to do as one shots, but circumstances led me to choose to officially end the story here.
> 
> I'm very pleased with how this last chapter turned out (it's suuuuuuuuper self indulgent lol), so I really hope you enjoy it!

Keith revels in the feeling of the water and sun on his skin, clinging to the sensation as proof that today is real and he isn’t about to wake up from a wonderful dream alone in his bed having never heard all that Lance said to him, having never _kissed_ Lance, having never been _kissed back by Lance_. And if it is a dream, he never wants to wake up. 

Lance’s skin was as soft as you’d expect from someone who thinks skin care is an acceptable topic of casual conversation. Butterflies riot in Keith’s stomach again just thinking about how he’d finally gotten to _touch_. He hadn’t been sure whether he’d survive today when Lance had started TAKING HIS CLOTHES OFF IN FRONT OF HIM but Keith has to say, he’s pleasantly surprised with the way events unfolded. Holding Lance against him, tasting his lips and his tongue, and Lance just as enthusiastically holding and tasting him, it was more than Keith ever dared to hope for.

He and Lance are both floating now, after they stopped making out and Lance actually showed him how to do it. Keith has no clue what time it is, just that they had made out for…. a while….and Keith doesn’t think his face has ever hurt from smiling so much but it’s like he has no control over his facial muscles anymore. If they aren’t actively kissing Lance, they’re smiling, and there is no other option. He’s just glad that floating means Lance can’t see the dopey grin he can’t keep off his face.

Lance hasn’t spoken in a while, and Keith has been appreciating the comfortable silence as they both float, which turns out to be really relaxing. Not entirely silent, Keith supposes, as Lance’s radio still plays from the edge of the spring. As a new song begins, Keith recognizes it. The walking bassline and the driving beat remind him of his parents dancing around the living room, singing the ridiculous lyrics to each other and pulling him in to join them.

“This song is one of my mom’s favorites, I’m kinda surprised to hear it on the radio actually…” Keith glances over at Lance, who is looking over at the radio like it’ll tell him what the song is. Keith considers, and decides he owes it to his parents to keep the tradition alive. And maybe he’s just in a good mood and knows Lance will love this.

Keith grabs Lance’s arm and starts to bop to the music, shimmying his shoulders to the beat and fighting the blush rising in his cheeks as Lance openly stares at him with a huge grin on his face. He starts singing along as the chorus starts.

“I’m a spaaaaaaaaaace cowboy, bet you weren’t ready for that! I’m a spaaaaaaaaace cowboy, I’m sure, you know where it’s at, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!” Keith flops his hair around on the ‘yeah’s, sending droplets of water spraying through the air like a dog.

Lance is doubled over with laughter, either at the lyrics or Keith’s attempt at dancing, or more likely both. “Oh my god,” Lance gets out breathlessly between bursts of laughter, “this is the best day of my life! What is even happening right now?!” Keith can’t help but laugh along, because the song really is ridiculous. 

He grabs both Lance’s wrists and pulls his arms back and forth in time to the music. The song is catchy, and Lance loves dancing, so it’s nearly impossible for him not to join in. Lance bops to the beat and lifts one of Keith’s arms above their heads, raising his eyebrows expectantly. Keith rolls his eyes but complies, twirling around to the sound of the music and Lance’s laughter.

When the next chorus comes around, Lance joins in too, but he really only manages the words ‘space cowboy,’ making up random syllables for the words he hasn’t picked up yet. The song goes into an instrumental break, including bizarre sounds that Keith can only assume are meant to sound extra-terrestrial, and Lance starts doing crazy arm motions to try and match the music. Now Keith’s the one doubled over laughing, but Lance is just as soon pulling him back to challenge him to a dance off. Keith knows there’s no way he’s winning this, but he’ll indulge Lance because he started this whole thing anyway.

By the end of the song, they’re both breathing heavy and high on endorphins, leaning side by side against the edge of the spring. A few chuckles continue to escape Keith, and he’s grateful to whatever higher power allowed that song to come on and remind him of such a good memory, and allow him to make another.

Lance gently bumps Keith’s shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts, “You never cease to surprise me Keith.”

Keith watches Lance smile softly toward the water, and resists the urge to kiss him again (maybe in a bit) but right now, “She wants to meet you. My mom.”

Lance looks at Keith now, surprise and curiosity evident in his face.

Keith looks down, feeling bashful admitting this, but wanting to honest with him. “She’s been asking about you since that day you kept me out stalking Allura for hours, but I’ve been dodging her questions because I knew she’d figure it out if I told her anything about you.”

“Figure what out?” Lance’s question sounds sincere, but Keith is pretty sure he’s just shitting him to force Keith to say it out loud. But after everything Lance said earlier, he supposes he can do this much.

“You know…” Keith swirls his finger in the water, watching it ripple across the surface in favor of meeting Lance’s gaze, which he can feel on his skin, “that I’m completely hopeless for you.”

Only after Lance doesn’t respond for a conspicuous amount of time does Keith dare to glance up at him. Lance is very still, and staring at Keith with a look like disbelief.

“Stop.” Keith steps in front of Lance, pushing into his space and forcing him out of his head.

Lance’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “What?”

“Stop whatever you’re thinking, like it could possibly be surprising that I like you, like you aren’t the most incredible person I’ve ever met, like there’s any chance you’re anything but irresistible.”

Lance inhales sharply, and Keith makes sure he can see every bit of conviction in his face, so there’s no room to question whether he’s serious.

“Lance, you’re amazing. You’re not the only one who was only half-awake before. You woke me up, too.” There’s only a few inches of space between them, but Keith thinks it’s a few inches too many. He thinks about what Hunk said, about how you know someone wants to kiss you, and tries to communicate that to Lance while still leaving him the choice. He starts to lean in, but before he even gets the chance to pause and let Lance choose, Lance is surging forward to meet him.

This kiss is less of a surprise than their first. Keith reaches his hands up to either side of Lance’s face, savoring the feeling of Lance’s mouth on his, their lips slotting together like they’re meant to be that way. He feels Lance’s hands gripping at his sides, tugging him closer against him. Keith’s stomach flips, the reality that Lance likes him, that Lance _wants_ him, still a new one. God, Keith wants Lance. He wants his easy smiles, his cheesy lines, his casual touches, his laughter, his thoughtfulness, he wants Lance to give him every bit of his heartache and insecurity so that Keith can wipe it all away.

Keith lightly sucks at Lance’s bottom lip, and much as he wants to be gentle and slow right now, he can’t resist running his teeth over Lance’s lip before glossing over it with his tongue. Lance moans quietly at the sensation, and Keith is determined to hear that sound again.

Lance’s tongue prods at Keith’s mouth, coaxing it open so he can explore. Keith let’s Lance take the lead, and moves one of his hands up into Lance’s hair, just long enough to still run his fingers through, while the other shifts down to Lance’s neck. When Lance’s hands come to rest on Keith’s chest between them, Keith is sure he can feel his heartbeat pounding against his ribcage, like it’s leaping toward Lance again and again and again.

When Lance starts to pull back, Keith barely keeps himself from chasing after him.

“Keith,” Lance breaths into the sliver of space between them.

“Lance?” 

“Go out with me.” It’s more a command than a question, Lance’s eyes dancing as he looks at Keith, a half smile pulling at his lips.

“Doesn’t sound like you’re giving me much choice,” Keith teases.

“I wanna take you on a date. Are you free tonight?”

“Tonight?” Keith laughs, amused and heart warmed at Lance’s enthusiasm.

“Come on Kogane, let me take you out, show you a good time,” Lance winks at him and Keith can’t handle him, he leans his head forward and tucks it into the crook of Lance’s neck to hide his smile.

“I’m going to regret this aren’t I?” Keith says into Lance’s shoulder.

“You can’t take back what you said! I know you think I’m irresistible.” Keith can just picture Lance wiggling his eyebrows as he says this, like the dork he is. Has Keith mentioned that he’s completely gone for this boy?

“I guess I could move some things around.” Keith can’t give in to Lance that easy, “how about my people talk to your people and see if we can pencil you in?”

“Shut up, dumbass, do you wanna go on a date with me tonight or not?”

Keith takes a step back from Lance and makes a face like he’s thinking about it. Then he smirks and heads for the edge of the spring and climbs out.

“Keith?!”

“Don’t look!”

Keith hears Lance huff in disbelief, but trusts that he respects Keith’s wishes as Keith grabs the bag Lance had taken the radio out of. Just as he’d hoped, the extra bulk inside is two towels. Lance had really prepared for this, huh?

“Keeeiiiiiiiith stop being mean!” Lance whines from the spring, where he is indeed facing away from Keith. “I thought you liked me!”

“Not my fault you’re so easy to mess with.” Keith finishes drying off as best he can and pulls his clothes back on. “You can turn around.”

Lance turns back to him pouting, and Keith just smirks in response.

“Alright McClain, I’ll let you take me out on one condition.”

Lance comes up to the edge of the spring where Keith stands and looks up at him, eyes sparkling like he’s about to accept a challenge.

“And what’s that?”

Keith holds his gaze for a minute, enjoying the game, admiring the view. God, Lance is beautiful, and now he doesn’t have to pretend he doesn’t notice.

“If you ever write me a letter, no paying anyone else to help. It’s gotta be all you.”

Lance huffs a laugh at that, and raises an eyebrow, “Even if that means it’ll be full of pick up lines that are ‘cheesy at best, creepy at worst’?”

“Even then.”

“Even if I draw more emojis?”

“You better give me the best emoji drawings you got.”

Lance looks up at Keith with that stupid face he does when he thinks he’s won something. But he hasn’t, because Keith is absolutely 100% the winner in this situation.

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST OF ALL if you are not familiar with Space Cowboy by Steve Miller Band (different from the more popular The Joker by Steve Miller Band) please follow this link and educate yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELcTJZLxhFU
> 
> SECOND OF ALL  
> If you've followed my previous author notes, you know I was just saying that this fic was going to be longer because I had so many ideas I wanted to do. Due to a life thing that I just found out about the other day, I'm about to have much less free time, so I decided it would be best to end the story proper here (where I was originally planning it would end when I started this anyway) with the hope to post one shots of the extra scenes I want to do if I have time in the future. I just didn't want my first ever fanfic to end up incomplete because I tried to bite off more than I could chew. I'm also really pleased with this ending anyway so I'm personally not too torn up about it. But there are more moments from the movie and more ideas I had on my own that I would love to write one shots of in the future, so if you enjoyed this story, keep an eye out for those! I have about 6 concepts right now that I'd love to write for Keith and Lance, they'd likely all be super fluffy and cute!
> 
> THIRD OF ALL  
> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS FIC! Oh my gosh y'all this has been such an experience for me, I really needed something to help my mental health, and being able to write my first ever fanfic, and also the longest written work I've ever completed, and share it with all of you has been so so lovely. Y'all have been so encouraging in the comments, and I feel so blessed to have had the chance to interact with you all <3 Oof! I didn't know ending this would be so emotional!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this story, and I hope to see you on my future one-shots because I am not done with these dorks!


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